Once Upon A Time Lord: Book Two
by RetroWriter2012
Summary: Taking place immediately after the events of "The Angels Take Manhattan" for Doctor Who and starting from "Broken" for Once Upon A Time, the Doctor unexpectedly returns to Storybrooke as magic has returned to the town. However, startling complications have now challenged him to retrace his steps in order to help Emma Swan and the lost fairy tale characters. Reviews are welcomed!
1. Prologue

**Prologue: Lost Memories**

The Doctor returned inside the TARDIS with reddened eyes; he had been crying for what felt like endless hours since reading Amy's letter in the afterword of the Melody Malone novel. He was not certain whether or not if he would ever be the same again after losing Amy and Rory to time…no, not time…it was those damned Weeping Angels that had done the dirty work. They were no better than the Daleks or the Master. Just like before, his worst enemies have taken the people he had loved the most away from his life. Just like before, he was left to travel alone…at least until the moment River had to leave him to continue her career as a professor of archaeology.

She was still there when the Doctor returned, smiling his way as she stood by the TARDIS controls. "Ready for takeoff?" she asked him once he shut the police box door behind him.

"Yes." He quickly answered. He wanted to be gone from New York as suddenly as possible. He wanted to even change his wardrobe as soon as possible. Too many memories of the Ponds were in the tweed jacket, the braces, and perhaps even the bowtie. _No…never get rid of the bowtie_, he convinced himself in thought. He stroked it gently, recalling how Amy always wanted him to get rid of it despite of how "cool" he thought it was.

The sudden tremor that came from their takeoff snapped him out of his trance. They were finally out of New York and traveling within the reaches of space, much to his faint delight. He knew there was much to be done before he was off seeing the stars with River again. As much as the thought of it pained him, the Doctor knew that he had to go back and see Brian – to tell him that he could not keep his promise in protecting his son and daughter-in-law. If he did not return anytime soon, he would have surely known that something had happened. But what if he already did? Would there be any sense in going back to tell him if he already knew?

"Doctor?"

Again, River snapped him out of his trance, her voice carrying some concern. She had been concerned for him for hours with very good reason. He looked up to her and saw that smile she greeted him with upon his return had disappeared. Something was wrong. "What is it?"

River was clearly all business at the moment. "Before we even think about going anyplace in anytime, there's _one_ place in _one_ time that you _must_ return to." She paused for a long moment, waiting for him to say it himself; however, he merely looked at her in genuine confusion. "Oh, you poor thing. You're so distraught that you've forgotten completely."

"Forgotten what?"

"Storybrooke. We still have unfinished business there. Many people are counting on you to help them. Emma is going to need if she's…" She stopped as soon as she realized that he was looking at her with even more perplexity. "Doctor, what's wrong? You remember Storybrooke, don't you? We met in the fairy tale world that it used to have been before it was cursed."

The Doctor stood stiff for a while and shook his head slowly. "River…I have been to _many_ places in my years of traveling in the TARDIS…but I have _never_ been to a place called Storybrooke."

River felt her body grow cold. "Oh, god. Please tell you are joking."

"Is this another thing that we haven't done yet? Because this would be a good time to yell 'Spoilers' to me."

She rushed over to him, gazing deeply into his eyes. "Doctor, listen to me. I don't know if this is a result of what happened to your effects from the curse, but you _must_ remember! There is a little boy – his name is Henry – and he believes in you! You've shown him the TARDIS, you read his book, and you wanted to help him before the curse overtook you like everyone else there! How can your brilliant and vast mind have forgotten all of that?"

The Doctor appeared a little disappointed in himself for losing memories of what sounded like a great adventure. It made him curious enough to ask, "Were Amy and Rory there with me?"

River gallingly chuckled. "Yes, Doctor. They were. Henry brought them there to help you remember…to help him break the curse. But your mind – your cursed _human_ mind – was too ignorant to see the truth. For god's sakes, you nearly married Red Riding Hood!" That one detail was literally an eye-opener for the Doctor. "We have to get you back there." River rushed back to the TARDIS controls. "By now, the curse has been broken, but the people there have not returned to their fairy tale lives. They'll need your help to…"

_VWOORMP! BOOM!_

An enormous tremor knocked River off her feet before she could even reach the controls. It was as if the TARDIS had lurched to one side and over to another, creating the sensation of being inside a giant salt shaker. As soon as she got back to her feet and composed herself, River looked back to where the Doctor stood to see if he was alright; much to her immediate surprise, she discovered him to be nowhere in sight.

"Doctor? Doctor! DOCTOR!"

After a few more shouts, she found herself to be only crying out to empty space.


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One: Return to Storybrooke**

It was a beautiful reunion of family and friends. Emma Swan, who spent many years feeling alone in a life of never knowing her parents or who they were, had finally found them in the most unlikely of places in the most unlikely of circumstances. The people who she had once known as David Nolan and Mary Margaret Blanchard – an amnesiac found near a toll bridge and a lovesick schoolteacher – were in actuality Prince Charming and Snow White…and her biological parents. Henry had been telling her the truth the entire time, and she was feeling like a total fool for not believing him while she was hugging her mother.

"She did it. She saved you." Henry said to his grandparents.

"She saved all of us." Snow emphasized.

Emma was completely overwhelmed. "I…well…"

"Uh, then why are we still here?" Grumpy questioned.

"That, my friend, is an excellent question." James remarked.

But Grumpy's question soon followed with more from his fellow dwarfs. What was the purple smoke that came into the town? Who did it and for what reason? Then the answer came in the form of Mother Superior, who was in actuality the Blue Fairy, walking up to the group and giving her answer: "Magic. It's here. I can feel it."

"Magic? In Storybrooke?" Henry said. "You're the Blue Fairy. Do something magical."

"It's not quite that simple, Henry." She clarified. "No wand, no fairy dust. Matters are complicated now."

It was then that the group heard a familiar sound – familiar to everyone except for Emma, who was hearing it for the first time. It sounded like a storm, which seemed impossible to Emma because the weather was so perfect that day. The strange noises continued to sound near the area until something materialized right in front of Granny's diner. To Henry and the fairy tale characters, it was called the TARDIS, owned by the alien being referred only as "The Doctor." To Emma, it was the same police box that she had seen in Jefferson's home only a few weeks ago, only it was now displaying mystifying powers that she had never witnessed before.

The sight of the TARDIS materializing in front of them brought an overwhelming sense of joy over Henry. "It's him! He's back!"

"The Doctor!" Snow exclaimed, feeling as overjoyed as her grandson.

Once the TARDIS was completely materialized, its right police box door flew open and a bewildered Doctor stepped out into the daylight. At first glance of the Doctor, Emma recognized him only as John Smith, the English teacher who worked in the same school as Mary Margaret. He was dressed the complete opposite of Smith, even wearing a bowtie, which Smith claimed "_aren't_ cool." Yet she felt in the back of her mind that she had seen this character before.

The Doctor had been screaming into the heavens for someone named River. He was just about to return inside the TARDIS until Snow White approached enthusiastically and said, "Doctor!" The Time Lord turned to her as she cried out his name and hugged her, much to his surprise.

"Yes…um…wonderful seeing you as well." The Doctor stammered before he forced her off of him and added, "But I haven't the time for hugs, Miss…whoever you are. I have to find a friend of mine who disappeared from me. And, yes, this is a police box. No, it's not an ordinary police box. And, yes, it's bigger on the inside. Unfortunately, I can't…"

"You don't remember me?" Snow uttered, appearing very confused.

The Doctor took a long, hard look at her and the other people that approached from behind her. He gazed upon their faces, not recognizing a single one that was either smiling or frowning at him. "I'm sorry, but…I…I don't recall ever meeting any of you."

Hearing this, Emma whispered to Henry. "Is this the curse? It's still got a hold on him or something?"

Henry shook his head. "I don't know." He then slowly walked up to the Doctor and asked him, "You don't remember ever coming to Storybrooke?"

The Doctor's eyes moved away from the boy and towards his new surroundings. It seemed like an average town in Maine, not too far from where he was seconds ago. Even though he did not recall ever visiting the town before, he did remember its name, only because River told him. "This…is Storybrooke?"

His answer brought panic over everyone.

"Why doesn't he remember us or the town?" Bashful asked.

"Is he still cursed?" Sneezy inquired.

"What's happened to him?" Doc queried.

"John," Red spoke up, addressing him by the name he adopted when she last saw him in the other world, which was coincidentally his Storybrooke name. "John, what was the last thing you remembered?" It was important for her to know more than everyone else. "Do you remember us? Do you remember how we fell in love?"

Surprise filled into the eyes of the Doctor as he looked upon the dazzling young woman. "W-We were…in love?" He slightly adjusted his bowtie and asked, "Who are you again?" He saw her face register shock and sadness in reaction to his inquiry. It was a reaction that clarified how much truth was in the young lady's words, although he cannot remember any of it.

"This has the Queen's fingerprints all over it!" Grumpy furiously bellowed, and the other dwarfs collectively agreed with him. "She's behind the Doctor's memory loss and magic coming to the town."

Emma shook her head negatively. "No, that last part _wasn't_ Regina."

Before anyone could have asked who Emma had in mind, a collection of angry shouts were heard from a distance, followed by rapid footsteps. All eyes turned in the direction of the noises to see an angry mob storming their way across town and Jiminy Cricket, once known as the town psychiatrist Archie Hopper, rushing up to the group. At the moment his eyes connected with the Doctor, a relieved smile appeared on his still-human face.

"Doctor. Thank goodness you're back." Jiminy said. "Hopefully you'll be able to talk some sense into them."

The Doctor looked to the mob, suddenly reminded of his recent excursion in another town called Mercy. Regardless of the fact that he knew none of those people, he felt that his past experience with "frightened people" could be put to use in this situation. "What's going on?"

"They're going to Regina's house." Jiminy informed. "They're gonna kill her."

"Great. Let's watch." Grumpy tranquilly said.

"NO!" The Doctor yelled, his voice carrying such a loud, brutal tone that most of everyone jumped from it. "There'll be _no_ more killing while I'm here." He then somberly added, "There's been enough killing for one day."

"He's right." Henry said. "Please. She's still my mom."

"If the Blue Fairy's right and magic is here, Regina could have her powers back." James stated. "They could be marching into a slaughter."

The Doctor looked to be seething with rage. "Slaughters. Killings. I'm beginning to have enough of it all. Not anyone else is dying today!" Following this declaration, the Doctor chased after the angry mob. Even though his words and the anger behind them brought confusion among the others, they did not hesitate in going with him to deal with the situation.


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two: Stolen Memories**

Regina was powerless!

It took a mere second for her to realize it before the man who was once known as "Dr. Whale," and still went by that name as far as he and most of the town were concerned, cornered Regina on the front porch of her home with the rest of the angry mob looking on with bloodthirsty eyes. "Now…where were we?"

"Stop this now!"

The familiar voice drew everyone's attention away from Regina and towards the front gate where the Doctor stood defiantly with Emma at his side and James, Snow, Henry, Jiminy, Red, Granny, and the dwarves behind them. Silence fell over the mob as they witnessed the return of the Doctor, who was practically a legend in their old land. They were surprised by the command he had given upon making his entrance.

"Stop _this_?" Whale yelled in confusion and frustration. "You of all people should understand _this_. Everything she's done to us…to _you_. Have you forgotten all of that?"

The Doctor paused for a brief moment. "Yes, I have." There was a collection of murmurings amongst the mob in effect to his answer. He addressed the crowd while approaching Whale. "I wish I can remember all of you as much as you have remembered me, but something has happened that I've yet to figure out, and _she_ is the only person who can help." He pointed directly to Regina.

"Help? She doesn't even know the meaning of that word." Whale retorted to the collective agreement of the mob.

"I will not allow killing to be a sense of justice here!" The Doctor forcibly said.

"Well, we're not from this world, _Doctor_." Whale uttered the Time Lord's name with distain.

"Yeah? Well, you're in it now." Emma remarked.

James quickly stepped in. "Okay, Whale. We're done."

"Back off! You're not my prince!"

"Who are you, Whale?"

"That's my business." He then looked back towards the Doctor and confidently added, "And since our old friend here doesn't remember any of us, myself included, that makes it no longer any of _his_ business either."

The Doctor grinned. "I make everything my business – even the business that I have no business in." Again he addressed everyone in the crowd, once again having flashbacks to his time in Mercy. "As long as Sheriff…" He stumbled on the name of the blonde that stood by his side. "What's your name again?"

"Emma Swan," she answered in embarrassment. _What a time to have to be reminded of my name, Doc!_

"As long as Sheriff Emma Swan and I are in charge of this situation, we will keep Regina locked up for her safety and, more importantly, all of ours. I can imagine all of you are looking for answers as badly as I am; but it cannot be done by looking for blood first."

Regina stood by and smiled over the way the Doctor, who had lost all memory of who she _really_ was, protected her from the angry characters. In the back of her mind, she hoped that he would not soon remember all she had done prior to his memory loss, as well as the reason behind it. Of course, with the company that he kept in the form of Emma Swan, Prince Charming, Snow White, and even her adoptive son, Henry, it would be only a matter of time.

* * *

_Clang!_

Steel met steel as the door to Regina's jail cell slammed shut by the hands of Prince Charming and locked in the process. Regina, not once dropping her smirk, looked into the eyes of the prince and deduced, "So I'm a prisoner now."

"Not a prisoner." The Doctor said as he walked up to the cell and stood beside James. "Think of yourself as a guest taking part in a safety precaution. It's much easier that way."

James shook his head over the Doctor's naivety towards Regina. "Doctor, this woman is behind the worst imaginable nightmare brought to life."

"Ah, yes. The curse." The Doctor said. "At least that's what River referred it as before she vanished from the TARDIS."

James, Emma, Henry, and Snow all sighed in distress. It was as if all the Doctor had believed in prior to his memory loss had vanished. In the eyes of Emma, he was pretty much acting similar to her before she broke part of the curse. Regina smiled in amusement over his attitude, but it soon faded once James addressed her again. "If the curse is broken, why didn't we go back?"

"Because there's nothing to go back to." Regina answered. "That land is gone."

Her answer did not bring much hope in the group's situation; it only made it much worse than before.

"We should get to Mr. Gold." Snow suggested, reminding herself of what Emma said earlier about him being the reason magic had returned to Storybrooke.

The others agreed with the idea, but as everyone started to leave, the Doctor quickly spoke up. "Now hold on a minute. You people got to have your Q&A moment. It's time I had mine." He smiled as he turned to Regina. Clearly, this whole situation with curses and people who thought of themselves as fairy tale characters was entertaining him. _Sounds like something out of a poorly written TV drama_, he thought. For his amusement, he asked Regina, "Why is it that everyone in this town knows who I am, but I have no idea who _they_ are?"

"It's for the best that you _don't_ know, Doctor." Regina cunningly answered.

"Ohh, don't be that way." The Doctor said. "I just saved you from an angry mob and a man named after a marine mammal. The least you can do for me is tell me why they were after you."

Regina remained silent for a minute, simply smiling at the Doctor through the bars of her cell. She then coldly said, "Don't you have enough to worry about after losing Amy and Rory?"

The Doctor's amusement suddenly vanished, replaced with horror. "What did you say?"

"That's right, Doctor. I know the journeys you've had, the places you've been, and the people you've put in danger and killed. All eleven of your lives…right up here." She lightly tapped her forehead for emphasis. "I don't need a magic mirror to see what you've been up to before returning to Storybrooke. The Daleks' asylum, the dinosaurs on the spaceship, the town of Mercy, the Shakri invasion, and that awful loss you suffered to the Weeping Angels in Manhattan. Tell me, Doctor…would the Ponds have survived if they only agreed to have _never_ gotten involved in your lonely, pathetic life ever ag—"

"STOP IT!"

The fury in the Doctor's voice and the massively loud _clang_ sound that rang throughout the room as his hands brusquely clasped the cell bars shocked everyone, including Regina, who retreated from the bars and further into her cell. She did not expect such a reaction from the Doctor and, from looking into his eyes, could see that this was _not_ the same man she met in the world before Storybrooke. These experiences – these visions of his life before returning to Storybrooke – they had taken quite a toll on him, turning him into something far worse than Regina. She wondered if the Doctor would actually turn her over to the town at that point. He had nearly done the same with Kahler-Jex in Mercy, so why would she be any different?

But the Doctor did nothing, and he said nothing as he stormed out of the station. Emma, Snow, James, and Henry – all greatly concerned for the Doctor – rushed to follow him out, leaving Regina alone with her thoughts and the Doctor's. But only for a short period of time would she be so isolated in her captivity.


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three: The Lonely Traveler**

Emma, Snow, James, and Henry could not allow themselves to go to Mr. Gold's after the intense scene that just took place in the station with Regina and the Doctor. They followed him right back to his TARDIS. The Doctor was so upset that he failed to remind himself to lock the doors behind him upon entering, allowing the family to enter without warning. Emma's jaw dropped as she witnessed the bizarre change of dimension, expecting to have walked into closed space. Apparently she was not the only one surprised by the larger interior – it was Snow and Charming's first time in the TARDIS as well, and they were equally bewildered. Henry, having been inside of it before, half-smiled over the way his mother and grandparents were taken aback from the scene.

"It's…it's…" Emma stammered.

"B-Bigger…" James managed to get out.

"…on the inside." Snow finished.

The sounds of levers and knobs being pulled and cranked directed Henry's attention away from his astounded relatives and to the Doctor, who looked to be taking the TARDIS out of Storybrooke again. He was leaving, much to Henry's shock. _Does he even realize that we're still in here with him?_ Henry wondered.

Henry acted fast before the Doctor pulled the last lever that made the TARDIS dematerialize from the spot it had landed in. "Doctor! Wait! You can't leave!"

The Doctor stopped himself as his hand went for the lever on the control console. Emma, James, and Snow also realized what the Doctor was about to do, yet they had no knowledge of the meaning behind the lever like Henry did. The Time Lord turned to the group, anger still in his eyes. "Did you tell her?"

Emma was puzzled by his question. "Tell her what?"

"DON'T PLAY GAMES WITH ME!" The Doctor stormed away from the console and advanced on the group. "What are all of you? Have you been following me? Watching over me behind my back?"

He was scaring Snow and Henry especially and did not even realize it. Quickly, James stood in between his family and the Doctor, even though he knew the Doctor would not harm them. "Doctor, we're sorry for what Regina said. We don't even know what any of it meant. Honest."

The Doctor seemed ready to let out another outburst – even tell them all to leave the TARDIS, so that he could continue on his mission to find River. But all he had done was drop his head and went to the stairway that led to the console platform, taking a seat upon them. Clearly, the Doctor was distraught, clasping his trembling hands together and looking to be on the verge of tears. Snow and the others had moved from being terrified to concerned for their alien friend; she went to the Doctor and sat right beside him, putting her steady hands over his shuddering ones.

"We're sorry," she softly told him.

He looked down at her hands and then at her face, noting the warm smile that she gave him. He had seen such a smile before. It was a friendly smile. But not the type of friendly smile a stranger gave to another while passing each other on the street. This friendly smile was that of someone who knew him nearly his whole life. These people really did know him. It was no trick.

"What happened in Manhattan?" Emma questioned.

The Doctor looked to her, barely catching her question. "I'm sorry?"

"Regina mentioned something to you about 'Weeping Angels' in Manhattan." Emma said. "What happened there?"

"Are Amy and Rory alright?"

The Doctor's eyes darted from Emma to Henry, who looked more concerned than everyone else in the room. He was not sure how Henry knew about Amy and Rory, but he was definitely not sure how to tell the boy what happened to them. Even though he was unsure how close Henry was to the Ponds in the time that he had known them, the Doctor thought it best to tell anyway – more for his benefit than Henry's. "They…were taken from me." He took a deep breath before he continued. "Our encounter with the Weeping Angels, a race of quantum-locked beings that take the form of statues, led to them being taken away from the year 2012 to sometime in the past where they lived their lives until they died of old age."

Listening to the Doctor's story, Emma glanced around the console room. "Well, why not go back and get them? I mean, if the stories Henry told me about this ship of yours are true, then you can just go back in time and—"

"I can't!" The Doctor snapped, hastily quieting Emma. He calmed himself before explaining: "We created a paradox to free Rory when he was almost taken by an angel to a time further back than 1938. Creating another to free them both will tear New York completely apart." He shook his head as he dropped it sadly. "I will never be able to see them _ever_ again."

It was an extremely sad story that dismayed Henry. "I'm sorry, Doctor."

The Doctor nodded, accepting his sympathies. "Now I've lost River…which makes me _completely_ alone now. The lonely traveler…once again." He grinned through his sadness and added, "She told me never to travel alone…now look where I am."

He felt Snow's hands gently squeeze his. "You are _not_ alone, Doctor. You may not remember any of us, but we have _never_ forgotten you and what you've done for all of us – even when you were John Smith."

The Doctor's ears perked on that last detail. "John Smith?" Snow nodded with a smile. "Blimey! I _have_ missed a lot, haven't I? How in the world am I going to help any of you without knowing all that I did?"

Henry's face lit up with excitement. "You're still going to help us?"

"Well, that woman – Regina – has memories of all eleven of my lives. Of course I'm not going to leave without investigating _that_. But I _must_ to know what happened in this fairy tale life you all once had and how I played a part in it."

Henry knew exactly the answer that the Doctor was looking for. He took off his backpack and reached inside of it, retrieving the "Once Upon A Time" storybook that he handed over to the Doctor. "You've read it before, but this time will be better – because you're in _every_ page."

The Doctor smiled as he held the large book in his hands. "First Melody Malone and now fairy tales! I'm betting fan fiction will be next!"

Emma was suddenly reminded of the business they had yet to tend to before arriving in the TARDIS. "Hey, we should get back to seeing Gold."

"Of course." Snow agreed with her daughter. "Doctor, are you coming with us?"

"No, you four go on without me. I have some reading to catch up on." He briefly opened to one page of the storybook and his eyes grew wide on the illustration he saw of a character who appeared to be himself standing at a makeshift altar in the forest with Red Riding Hood. "_A lot_ of reading."


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four: The Torchwood of Storybrooke**

Emma decided it was best for Henry not to be present while she was confronting Mr. Gold – or Rumplestiltskin as he was better known to the remembering residents – sending him away with Red while she and her parents went to Gold's shop. It was a wise decision, considering how tense the interaction between the three of them and Gold had turned out when Emma went in demanding answers.

"Maybe I don't need answers." Emma said. "Maybe I just need to punch you in the face."

Gold laughed at the threat. "Really, dearie? Allow me to answer your questions with some of my own. Did your dear boy Henry survive?"

"Yeah."

"Is the curse broken?"

The second question went unanswered, but the way in which Emma's eyes rolled in annoyance was enough for Gold.

"And let's see, Miss Swan…how long have you been searching for your parents?" He gestured to James and Snow. "Looks like you're reunited. Seems like rather a punch in the face, I deserve a thank you."

"Twist my words all you want." Emma retorted. "What was the purple haze you brought to the town?"

"You know…magic." He made a certain gesture that was reminiscent to James and Snow of the dangerously mischievous wizard they knew back in the land before Storybrooke. All that was missing was the horrid complexion, unnatural eyes, and bad teeth.

"Why?" Snow asked.

"Not telling." Gold quickly answered.

Soon after Gold gave his answer, a massive tremor came over the area, shaking everyone and everything in the shop. Car alarms could be heard wailing in the distance, signifying that it was not just that one spot but the rest of Storybrooke as well. "What the hell was that?" Emma questioned, startled beyond belief.

James and Snow went to the front door and saw how day had suddenly changed into night, as if a deadly storm had come over the town. Huge gusts of wind blew through the streets, lights flickered rapidly, electrical sparks shot out of utility poles and other sources of electricity, and loud, terrifying roars could be heard throughout. At first they believed it to be the wind making the unearthly noise, but something else was out there.

"This is my gift to you." All eyes returned to Gold, who continued to stand calm and collected. "This is gonna take care of Regina."

There came a tremendous explosion that briefly lit the street corner they were on. Soon enough, a man was heard screaming in terror from out of nowhere. James and Snow looked for where the screams were coming from, only to have seen a body fall unexpectedly from above and land atop a parked car with a sickening thud, blowing out all the windows from the impact. Surprised from the sudden emergence of this victim to the chaos, James and Snow then realized that the identity of the body was Captain Jack Harkness.

"Emma! It's Jack!" James alerted her.

Caught in between her confrontation with Gold and Jack's well-being, Emma allowed her good nature to choose the latter over the former. Before leaving the shop, she warned its owner, "We're not done."

"Oh, I know. _You_ still owe _me_ a favor."

Emma said not another word as she walked out of the shop with her parents and went to where Harkness had landed. They questioned for a moment if he was still even alive, but the way he groaned in pain confirmed that he was.

"Jack? Can you hear me?" Emma asked.

"Ugh…did anybody get the number of that specter that attacked me?" Harkness jested in his agonizing state.

Emma and James helped Jack remove his battered body from off the heavily damaged vehicle, gradually brushing off pieces of glass from his dark trench coat. "What're you doing out here? You should be in the hospital."

"Yeah, well, I've been blown to smithereens once and even that didn't stop me."

With all Emma had been through in the last twenty-four hours, she was not certain whether Jack was being serious or merely poking fun at his own expense. Either way, she did not have time to talk about it with the chaos continuing to erupt around them. "We need to get to the station."

"What's at the station that we need?" Jack asked.

"Regina." Emma replied.

Puzzlement settled over Jack's face. "I'm sorry but…what?"

"We haven't got time to explain, Jack." James said. "The thing that attacked you is meant for Regina. And she's locked at the station with no way of escaping from it. We need to get there before it kills her."

Harkness nodded in understanding, despite the fact that he didn't. "Alright then. I guess we're now the Torchwood of Storybrooke – except none of you are English, Welsh, or gay." Emma, James, and Snow all gave Jack very disturbed looks, failing completely to understand the reference. "You know what…never mind. Let's just go catch ourselves a specter, shall we?"

* * *

Jack, Emma, James, and Snow arrived back at the station just in time to find the wraith hovering over Regina's jail cell, having ripped the door off its hinges to leave nothing between it and her. It then commenced in sucking out her soul, generating a wave of energy that transported from Regina's face to the wraith's dark, skeletal right hand. James quickly made a move, diverting the wraith's attention away from Regina by shouting "Hey!" He attempted to smack a chair against it, but the wraith was quick to hurl the weapon out of James's hands before throwing him across the room.

Harkness stepped in next with his firearm aimed at the wraith; he knew it was not going to do a lick of good against the specter, but he just needed to distract it from Regina and buy Emma and Snow enough time to make some moves of their own. Jack fired a few shots and the bullets merely bounced off the wraith with a simple wave of its hand. He suddenly felt himself being lifted off his feet by an unseen force (it was clearly the wraith handling all the work) and then tossed about the room until he was left in a weakened state on the floor, still alive but barely able to stand.

Emma and Snow were the last ones left standing as the wraith went back to sucking Regina's soul. The two women had planned on improvising moves of their own until a familiar sound rang through the area, drowning out the wraith's terrifying roars. The wraith ceased its attack on Regina and turned its head to where the noise had come from, looking just in time to see the TARDIS materialize in a corner of the room that Harkness had been lying just beside. Jack smiled at the sight of the TARDIS appearing near him; it was always a sign of hope to him, especially at that exact moment.

Fully materialized, the right door of the police box opened and the Doctor stepped out, wearing a pair of bizarre-looking steampunk goggles. The lenses glowed in a greenish hue as he stared at the wraith through them. "Oh! 'ello! Sorry to have popped in while you were…erm…sucking. But as soon as the TARDIS alerted me of the presence of a wraith, I just could _not_ pass on the opportunity of seeing it in person! It's been quite some time since I've seen a wraith like you, and I can _only_ see one with these." He tapped on the goggles he wore. "Spectral Spectacles! Like it? Came up with the name myself. Of course, I was going to go with completely different one, but some four blokes in a movie had it first."

The wraith growled as it hovered towards him. The Doctor then reached inside his tweed jacket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, aiming it at the wraith and emitting a beam of light from its tip that drove the wraith berserk. The creature then retreated through a window, shattering the glass on its hasty exit. Watching it leave, the Doctor smiled before removing his goggles and turning to everyone in the room.

"What did you do to it?" Emma asked.

"Tapped into its core energy and extracted some of it." The Doctor answered. "Oh, and the goggles were just for show. I knew it was visible to everyone and not just me."

Jack laughed. "After all this time, you were right in front of me and I hadn't even noticed…at least not until Henry opened my eyes to it."

The Doctor looked to Jack, still smiling. "Captain."

"Doctor." Harkness used all the strength he had left in his body to pick himself off the floor and stand beside his old friend. "Love the new regeneration."

"Oh?" The Doctor uttered in amusement.

"Yeah. The cheekiness is gone, but the self-centeredness is still there." Jack said.

The Doctor laughed. "Ah, Jack. Haven't changed a bit."

"And I probably never will for another century."

A series of coughs could be heard from Regina's cell as she regained some composure after the wraith's attack. "If you two are done swapping immortality puns, can we please get back to our situation?"

"But…I thought we…killed it." Snow presumed.

"No, it's regenerating. It'll be back." Regina elucidated.

Harkness grinned. "That makes _three_ of us. We could be in for a long night here."

"It doesn't stop until it devours its prey – me." Regina showed the strange mark on her hand to all of them. From what the Doctor could make of it, the mark almost appeared Chinese in origin.

"A soul sucker." Jack said. "I've dealt with a monster like this before – called itself 'Abaddon' – its very shadow could kill any regular human. I was the only person able to defeat it."

"Because of your immortality." The Doctor deduced.

"Marvelous, Captain Harkness." Regina remarked. "Perhaps we've found the answer to my dilemma: let the wraith prey on _you_ instead."

Harkness mockingly laughed and shook his head. "As fun as that would be, Your Honor, I'd rather _not_ take part in it again. I forgot to mention one crucial detail – the last time I took on a soul sucker, I was dead for weeks before I was able to revive again."

"So how do we kill it?" Emma questioned.

"There's no way. You can't kill something that's already dead." Regina stated before looking to Jack adding, "No offense, Captain."

"None taken." Harkness sardonically said.

Between the two ideas that were shot down, Emma came upon a terrible realization: "We have a problem then."

"No, we don't." James said. "Regina does."

His statement came as a surprise to everyone.

"No, no, NO!" The Doctor exclaimed. "We've discussed this. No one is going to suffer; no one is going to die!"

"Don't you see, Doctor? We give it Regina and then it goes away and we're safe." James pointed out.

"There's another way. A more _humane_ way." The Doctor declared.

"I made a promise to Henry." Emma told her father. "She's not dying."

Regina was surprised from Emma's dedication. Despite all of the horrible things she had done to her, as well as what she put Henry through in the midst of it all, Emma was still willing to protect her, even for her son.

Snow smiled proudly of her daughter's conviction, yet she remained focus on a solution to their problem. "If we can't kill the wraith, then what do we do?"

The Doctor thought quickly of an answer. As soon as he had one, he was on the verge of saying it out loud, but Regina was a step ahead of him. "Send it somewhere it can't hurt anyone."

"Right. Yes…exactly what I was going to suggest." The Doctor timidly said.

Clearly, the both of them were on the same thought processes with the Time Lord half of her mind functioning. _That could become a bit of a nuisance_, the Doctor thought.


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five: Another Hat Trick**

"Blimey!" The Doctor remarked upon hearing the entire story Jack had shared with him about the global "Miracle Day" phenomenon of 2011 as they stood in Regina's office in Storybrooke Town Hall. "It was a good thing I took Amy and Rory off Earth while that all happened. Heaven only knows how it would've affected them." He then centered his focus on one particular part of Jack's recollection of the events: "And your friend, Rex Matheson, gained your immortality after it was all over?"

Harkness nodded in confirmation. "We had this plan – to transfer some of my then-mortal blood into Rex in order to end the Miracle, sacrificing ourselves simultaneously by feeding the blood into both ends of the Blessing. Rex's been asking me constantly about how he got to be like me, and I've tried numerous theories – even the one about him being a fixed point in time; but, in the end, you were the only person who could explain it all for him." He gestured to the Doctor's face and added, "Of course, I didn't count on the new regeneration. What happened this time?"

"Christmas 2009," the Doctor began, "you were off Earth at the time, but the Master had returned and used an Immortality Gate to pass on his bio-data across every human on the planet, turning them into copies of him."

"Damn." Jack reacted. "All of that with the Immortality Gate? Torchwood was supposed to have kept that locked away. How the hell did a lunatic like the Master get his hands on it?"

"Long story – one that involves the Time Lords nearly destroying Earth by bringing Gallifrey into its orbit during the last days of the Time War," said the Doctor, who appeared slightly melancholic upon reflecting on the experience. "Of course, it was all stopped. But would you believe that it was the Master who saved the day in the end?"

Jack snickered. "No, I actually wouldn't."

The Doctor nodded, understanding his lack of belief. "Well, it was. And I survived for a while, until I had to endure massive amounts of radiation poisoning to save the life of a friend – Wilfred Mott."

"And that triggered the regeneration?" Jack gathered.

The Doctor nodded. "That moment you saw me in the bar – that was the last you saw of my 'old' face." Reminded of that brief encounter, the Doctor then said, "I'm sorry about the people you lost to the 456, Jack. If I'd been there…"

"No, _no_. Don't say another word." Harkness demanded. "None of that could have been prevented any other way. You can't always be here to save us. That's why Earth has Torchwood. We deal with the problems that no one else, not even the government, can. I learned the best from you and – because of that – this world has survived the worst of the worst – whether it was the 456 or Miracle Day. So don't tell me what would've happened if you'd been there, because everything you would've done would just be the same as what I did."

The Doctor proudly smiled. "Thank you, Jack."

"Sounds like you two have been through quite a lot before Storybrooke."

They both heard Emma speak out near them, having heard both of their stories as they waited on Regina. Jack smiled at her and said, "Yeah, you could say that. Not nearly as impressive as being the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White though."

Emma rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Don't even start, Harkness."

Regina soon returned to her office, carrying a withering, old light brown hatbox with her that she placed atop a table. Jack, Emma, and the Doctor joined her at the table as she questioned to Emma, "Did Henry really ask you to protect me?"

"Yes," answered Emma.

Regina seemed touched by the fact as she opened the hatbox and pulled out a hat that Jack and Emma both instantly recognized. "Wait. Isn't that Jefferson's hat?" Jack inquired.

"Who's Jefferson?" Regina asked.

"The fruit-loop that did _this_ to me." Jack slightly pulled back the left side of his coat to show the bloodied side of his turquoise shirt where a hole was ripped in and exposed the bandages on his torso.

"Yeah. That's the hat he wanted me to make for him." Emma indicated. "How did you get a hold of it?"

Before Regina could offer some type of answer, they heard footsteps enter the room. They turned to see Snow and James carrying broomsticks. Explaining the broomsticks, James said, "Torches – for when it comes back. I know it's old-fashioned, but so am I."

"I guess sonic screwdrivers are overrated then." Jack uttered.

"No, no! This is a _brilliant_ idea!" The Doctor said with a huge smile. "The wraith has a weakness to light. I used the sonic screwdriver as a beacon of light to deplete its energy. Fire equals light!"

Noticing the hat in Regina's hands, Snow asked, "So how does it work?"

* * *

Regina led the group downstairs into the main hall, explaining the hat's functions to them upon setting it on the floor. "It will open a portal to our land. All we have to do is send the wraith in there."

Harkness grinned amusingly. "Does anyone else feel like we're turning into the Ghostbusters?"

"Should I put back on the goggles?" The Doctor mockingly asked, pulling out the special eyewear from the right pocket of his tweed jacket.

"I don't understand. I thought you said our land was gone." Snow said.

"It is." Regina clarified. "But sending it to a place that no longer exists…well, that's banishing it to oblivion."

Jack gave an approving nod. "Quaint – even for you."

Regina shot him a wicked glance. "I'll take that as a compliment, Captain." As she started spinning the hat, whooshing and rumbling noises could be heard outside before the electricity in the room crackled, putting them all in darkness. They looked to the double doors across the room, seeing shadows pass by the distorted glass.

"Your Honor? Whatever you're doing, would you mind doing it _faster_?" Jack hastily requested.

Regina spun the hat with more ferocity, but nothing happened. Her panic increased as soon as she heard the wraith roaring outside the main hall. Jack, Emma, Snow, and James all lit their broomsticks/torches and the Doctor retrieved his sonic screwdriver, all readying themselves for another confrontation with the creature. The double doors flew open, letting in a massive gust of wind that blew out Emma and Snow's torches.

The wraith hovered into the main hall and the Doctor unleashed an attack from his sonic screwdriver that distracted the creature long enough for Jack and James to step in to attack with their still-lit torches. Meanwhile, Snow found a bottle of alcohol at a mini-bar nearby, using the liquid to dose the barriers that halved the room. Snow called for James (but, in actuality, addressed him by his Storybrooke name), alerting him of the alcohol on the barriers. Of course, James already smelled it the moment she brought it out and knew of her plan.

Closing in the barriers together, James used his torch to light the alcohol and set the barrier aflame. The fire completely cut off the wraith's access to Regina, who continued to have difficulty with the hat. "Regina! Hurry!" James demanded of her.

"It's not working!" She cried in desperation.

"What's the problem?" Jack yelled while swinging his torch at the wraith.

"Magic. It's different here." Regina realized upon looking at the practically useless item sitting before her.

Looking over at Regina and the hat, the Doctor noticed how Emma stood over them both. Quickly, he instructed, "Emma…put your hands on Regina's arms."

His instruction brought confusion upon both Emma and Regina. "What?"

"Just do it!" The Doctor impatiently shouted.

Emma was willing to do whatever it took to solve the problem. She placed her hands on Regina, who made one last effort in getting the hat to work. As soon as she spun it one last time, the hat unleashed its magic, spinning to the point where it had transformed into a giant, swirling vortex of purple smoke. Regina looked to Emma in surprise and Emma had done the same until both women looked to the Doctor, whose face had shown delight in his improvised plan working.

The wraith finally broke past its combatants, knocking James to the side and pushing Harkness. The substantial force of the push had sent Jack's body flying over the flaming barrier and directly into the vortex. The Doctor, witnessing Jack's disappearance into the portal, cried out his name; but the immortal captain was long gone.

"REGINA!" Emma shouted as she noticed the wraith coming directly for her.

Emma leaped after Regina, pushing her out of the way before the wraith could touch her. The wraith was left falling into the vortex; but, before it had disappeared, it latched onto Emma's leg with its energy beam and pulled her into the portal with it. Watching her daughter vanish into the vortex, Snow cried, "NO! I'm not losing her again!" She then jumped and disappeared into the portal herself to the surprise of James, who refused to lose both his wife and daughter at the same time.

He jumped the barrier and leaped for the portal himself. Unfortunately, the portal had closed before James could get into it, leaving him landing only on the hat and crushing it into a heap of shredded fabrics. Picking himself and the hat's remains off the floor, James was left shocked and saddened from what had happened. The Doctor was in the same state; his body paralyzed from the heavy emotions that rang through him. _No! This can't have happened again! I cannot have lost them, too!_ He was in such a distraught state of mind that he could not think properly. He didn't know what to do anymore.

The Doctor barely caught James confronting Regina as he screamed to her, "Where are they?"

Regina was shocked herself but she managed a calm demeanor as she addressed him. "I have no idea."

The angry prince advanced on her. "Are they dead?"

"The curse – it destroyed all the land."

"ARE THEY DEAD?" The fury in James's voice was evident.

"I don't know." Regina answered.

"I should've killed you myself!"

The Doctor saw the confrontation build up between them. "Everyone calm down. We can fix this." But he was only kidding himself with that promise; he did not know where to begin with solving the problem.

However, there was too much tension between James and Regina for any cooler heads to prevail on the matter. "Well, then what's stopping you?" Regina bellowed while lunging at James, only to have unleashed her magic upon him, throwing him across the room and slamming him against the wall. The Doctor watched in surprise as actual branches sprouted out from the wallpaper, which contained tree designs, and pinned down James. "You think you're some heroic prince? Please. You're nothing but the son of a shepherd."

Watching how the branches began to squeeze the life out of James, the Doctor yelled to Regina, "Stop this! Stop this _now_!"

"And you." Regina spun around to face the Doctor, raising one arm towards him that brought out another tree branch from out of the wallpaper and wrapped around the Doctor's neck, choking him. "You don't think I picked up on Emma's energy signature like you did? I know _everything_ you know, Doctor. That's why you're going to die right here, right now. And regenerating _won't_ help you."

The Doctor gasped, feeling the branch grow tighter and tighter on his neck.

"Mom?"

It was Henry. The Doctor felt the branch loosen on his neck.

Regina turned and innocently looked to her son as he was accompanied by Red. "Henry, what are you doing here?"

"What are you doing?" He asked her.

"It's okay." Regina assured, walking to him. "You're safe now."

The branches holding James and the Doctor retreated back into the wall, freeing the both of them. Red quickly left Henry's side and checked on both men as they fought to get air back in their lungs. Of course, Red checked on the Doctor more so than James. "John, are you alright?"

Hearing her address him by that name made the Doctor more curious than the first time she addressed him by it. _What life did I once have with her? Are we married? Dear God! I hope not!_

"Where's my mom?" Henry asked, obviously referring to Emma. "Where's…?"

"They're gone." Regina hurriedly answered, feigning remorse. "They fell through a portal. They're…Henry, I'm sorry."

But Henry could see through the act. "No, you're not. You really are the Evil Queen. I don't want to see you again."

"No, don't say that, Henry. I love you."

"Then prove it. Get them back – and until then, leave me…leave _everyone_ alone."

Regina was surprised by his request. "Where will you go?"

"With me," said a recovering James, getting to his feet and going over to Henry.

Henry smiled as he watched his grandfather, Prince Charming himself, put a comforting hand on his shoulder and guide him out of the room. Regina watched them leave in defeat; she then noticed from the corner of her eye how the Doctor was being helped out by Red. His eyes briefly connected with hers and, for that short moment, he heard her thoughts. Terrified beyond belief, the Doctor walked with Red, leaving Regina standing alone in the main hall.


	7. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six: The Conundrum**

Jack expected to have awakened within an endless void of darkness after falling into the portal. But the first thing he had seen as he woke up was the familiar "police box" sign near the apex of the TARDIS. He figured the Doctor had saved him from whatever gruesome fate would have befallen him on the other side of the hat's portal. Of course, that hopeful possibility was abruptly discredited as soon as a woman with large, curly dark blond hair came into his view, aiming a gun directly at Jack while smiling devilishly. Judging from the alien tech of the gun, Harkness figured that she was not from Earth – nor was he _on_ Earth that moment.

Returning her devilish smile, Harkness said, "Have I finally died and gone to heaven?"

The woman chuckled with amusement. "Don't flatter yourself, darling. You're not my type…_plus_, I'm married."

Jack nodded understandingly. "Must be a lucky man."

"He's the _greatest_."

"Then I'm certainly out of his league from your condescending perspective."

"Ooh! You're a fast one, aren't you?"

"We Time Agents gotta stay fast, don't we?"

"And what makes you think I'm a Time Agent."

Harkness pointed to the device on the woman's right wrist. "Vortex manipulator. I only know because I was once one, but I kept mine." He showed the same device on his left wrist to her.

"Nice observation, darling. But I'm no Time Agent. I merely stole the one I'm wearing from one in order to assist a good friend of mine on an important mission."

"Lemme guess…your friend's the Doctor?" The smile on the woman's face faded as astonishment swiftly took over. Jack gestured to the police box behind her and said, "Please tell me he's in there and you're like some one-time companion he picked up on the way."

The woman shook her head sadly. "No. Some powerful, invisible force separated us. I ended up here." She looked around the area along with Jack, who took notice of his new surroundings for the first time since reawakening. They were in a forest, but not like the one that he would see on the outskirts of Storybrooke; this one felt different to him – more foreign. "How do _you_ know the Doctor?"

"We're old friends. Very good friends. And he's also the reason why that gun you're pointing at me isn't going to do you much good."

The woman raised an eyebrow with interest. "Is that a threat, darling?"

"Call it an assurance. Killing me is not gonna get you anywhere."

"You're right. That's why I'm _not_ going to kill you." She holstered her gun to clarify this for him. "Instead, I'm going to ask for your help."

Curiously, Jack inquired, "In doing what?"

"Finding the Doctor. You say that you know him – then you know where to find him. Am I right?"

Harkness nodded as he picked himself off the ground and stood on his feet. "You're absolutely right. But I already found him and, unfortunately, he's still on the other side of the portal I came through."

"Portal?" Her face quickly registered shock and frustration. "The Mad Hatter! You trusted _him_ with portal jumping?"

"Whoa, whoa. I don't know anything about mad hatters. All I know is that when we used Jefferson's hat, we…"

"You can_not_ trust that man's magic. And, because you already have, you're doomed just as much as I am here."

Jack was clearly baffled. "Wait. Hold on. We still have a fully functioning TARDIS in this world."

"_This_ world?" The context of Jack's statement clued her in on a crucial fact. "You mean there's _another_ TARDIS in the other world?"

"That's what it looked like to me when I saw the Doctor come out of it."

With this new information, the woman began to scientifically deduce, "The separation between worlds was so powerful this time that it created _two_ TARDISes. It didn't just cancel out one this time, but duplicated another. This world must still be connected to the energy signature of the TARDIS." A hopeful smile emerged on her face as she realized, "We may have a chance in getting back to the Doctor – getting back to _our_ world!"

Jack enjoyed the enthusiasm the woman was displaying. He was so enthralled over her intelligence that he could practically kiss her; but, first, he had to get to know her better. "What's your name?"

"Professor River Song. Yours?"

"Captain Jack Harkness."

River chuckled. "A professor and a captain working together to find a doctor. Quite the conundrum, isn't it?"

Jack had a clever quip of his own to respond with, but the sound of hoof beats in the distance directed his attention towards the foliage. Looking through it with River, the two of them were stunned to have seen Emma and Snow/Mary Margaret being pulled behind a horse by their bonded wrists, trying to make it over the difficult terrain. Two other women were riding on the horses – one who looked like a princess and one bearing ancient Chinese warrior armor. They were all making their way towards an island encampment from what Jack and River could make out.

Harkness, surprised to have discovered that Emma and Snow were there as well, discouragingly surmised, "Looks like we'll have to cancel our date with the Doctor. Our situation just went from a great escape to a rescue mission."


	8. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven: Love for Another**

Red (or Ruby, as she appeared to be addressed as from several of the confused townsfolk) stepped out of Granny's Diner, lugging a short, stand-up sign with the diner name printed across it. A mini-sign was attached over the diner name, and it read "Closed." Red made certain that the sign was placed directly in front of the diner's entrance for everyone to see. After placing it there, she started to make her way towards the town hall where most of everyone had gathered after the wraith attack. However, she stopped once she looked over to the TARDIS, which was still parked on the sidewalk in front of the diner.

Ever since she and Henry came to the rescue of James and the Doctor, Red had not seen the Doctor step out from the TARDIS to talk to her or anyone else. Whatever Regina had done to take away his memories put a great effect on him, and Red had been concerned ever since she discovered that he didn't remember the life they once had before the curse. Red sighed in despair; she needed to check on him – needed to know if he was going to be alright. She hated leaving him alone, because she knew what he was like when he was alone.

Marching up to the TARDIS, Red hesitated in knocking on the door. She expected him to shout from inside that he did not want to be bothered at the moment and to come back later. Fortunately, the total opposite happened. "Come in!" He answered in a happy tone, which brought a warm smile upon Red's face as she opened the right door and entered the TARDIS.

The view inside the special blue box astounded Red much like everyone else who ever went into it – with only a couple of exceptions. Red always wondered what it was like inside, but she never got her chance because of the Doctor's betrayal on the first day that they met. It was something that she had never forgiven him on, at least not until the time he helped Snow try to save Prince Charming. After that failed rescue mission, moments with the Doctor were never the same, because _he_ was never the same. He became a completely different man, one who Red learned to trust and even love.

But that man she once knew, the man named John Smith, was not there inside that special blue box. The man she expected to find was the same stranger she saw fall from the sky from that enchanted land he called "Gallifrey." He had no memories of meeting her, helping Snow rescue her prince, or even falling in love with Red. With these thoughts running through her mind, her happiness slightly dispersed. She just reminded herself that he _looked_ like the man she fell in love with, not the man himself.

At first Red saw no sign of the Doctor in the large control room. "Where are you?" Red asked, her eyes wandering all over to find him.

"Down here!"

She heard his voice come _beneath_ the console platform that she stepped upon, looking through the glass floor to see the Doctor with a pair of goggles over his eyes. He looked up at Red at the same time, and his face clearly dropped into what Red could tell was a mixture of surprise and a hint of horror. "Oh," he uttered before refocusing his attention on what he was working on and then giving Red that response she dreaded hearing from him outside the TARDIS: "Come back later. I'm a little busy right now."

This hurt Red and made her a little confused. Why call her inside and then tell her to leave? Something was up with the Doctor, and she was _not_ leaving until the issue was solved. Moving down to join him beneath the console platform, Red saw that he was sitting on some type of swing and surrounded by an array of wires and control boxes that Red could not even begin to understand their functions. The Doctor knew she was there beside him, but he did not once look her way; instead he focused on two items in his hands – the sonic screwdriver and a piece of wood.

"What're you doing?" Red curiously asked.

He scanned the piece of wood with his sonic screwdriver and shook his head in disappointment as he looked to the device for absent readings. "I'm trying to sync my sonic with wood, so that it can _finally_ work on wood."

"Why?"

"Because I need to find a special tree with a special type of wood."

"Why?"

"IS THAT THE _ONLY_ WORD YOU KNOW IN THE _WHOLE_ UNIVERSE?"

His tone made Red jump unexpectedly. "I-I'm s-sorry, John," she gingerly said as tears welled up in her eyes.

The Doctor sighed, removing the goggles from his head and rubbing his eyes in a combination of frustration and regret. "No, no. _I'm_ sorry. Here I am trying to do the impossible. Magic…it's such a horrible challenge." He looked to Red, who was still slightly trembling. "You called me 'John' again. Out of everyone in this town, you're the only one who _doesn't_ address me as 'Doctor.'"

Red weakly smiled. "I loved him."

The Doctor nodded understandingly. "And you married him."

The tears fell from Ruby's eyes as she sorrowfully said, "Yes."

"I wish I could be that man you love right now. But the truth is that he himself was a fairy tale. A product of whatever memory wipe that Regina put on—"

"I know, Joh…Doctor." Red interrupted, finally gaining the courage to address him by the name that he went by before she knew him as John Smith. "I know you're not him, but…I just can't help seeing his face. It's _your_ face. And it _scares_ me that it's him I'm seeing and not you."

The Doctor wanted to say something in response to that, but there was nothing he could say to change her thoughts on the matter.

"I just…don't know what to do." She briefly looked to the door leading out of the TARDIS and despairingly sighed. "I've got to go. Everyone's in front of the town hall looking for help." She then asked with hopeful eyes, "Will you still be here…in Storybrooke?"

The Doctor nodded and smiled. "There are lives to be saved. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

She was so overjoyed to hear this that she leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He sat there and stared at her in wide-eyed disbelief, not anticipating her sneaking in a kiss before she left the TARDIS. Adding to this shock, she lastly notified him upon walking out the door, "Oh, and in case you get hungry, Granny's got fish-sticks and custard in the diner. Just ignore the closed sign outside."

After that notification, the Doctor heard the door close. "Blimey," he whispered to himself while moving out from beneath the console platform. Red truly did know much about him – more than he knew of her. The thought of being married to Red Riding Hood as a completely different man unsettled him and even made him wonder what River would think if she ever found out. Neither marriage was legal by Time Lord standards – one took place in an alternate timeline while the other was in a fairy tale universe. It was the most complicated affair imaginable and the Doctor hadn't the slightest idea where to start in solving it; he had enough problems already.

As he went onto the console platform, he once again scanned the piece of wood with the sonic screwdriver. The device made a peculiar noise that made the Doctor believe he had succeeded in recalibrating its functions at first. Suddenly, the piece of wood burst into flames right in the Doctor's hand, and he quickly threw it down in reaction to the slight pain he received. Rapidly stomping on flaming piece of wood to put it out, the Doctor bemoaned over his failure. The work was so frustrating that he felt a searing pain overtake his temples, drowning out the pain he felt in his hand. It got so intense after a second that he sunk down to the floor, clasping the sides of his head.

While this painful sensation took over, brief images of places he had never been and people he had never met – to his recollection – flashed before his eyes. He felt as if he were experiencing the complicated life of another person through his or her eyes. After a moment of watching these images play out like a slideshow moving in fast motion, his mind began to realize that these memories were Regina's, or the life that she lived in the fairy tale world. The final image was of her taking a small book from Rumplestiltskin – a transaction that he watched happen through Regina's eyes.

The memory flashes abruptly ended and the Doctor's headache subsided. A name went through the Doctor's mind shortly thereafter, and he said it out loud in perplexing surprise. "Cora?"


	9. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight: Painful Reunion**

Jack woke up with a loud gasp, fighting to get air back into his lungs. His awakening gasp was greeted by the collective gasps of several people surrounding him, each one with looks of amazement upon their faces. Harkness could not remember what happened before he apparently "died" for the billionth time, but he had a good idea of _how_ it happened when his chest momentarily felt like it was on fire. He was reminded of his current whereabouts when he looked around to see that he was still in the camp that he and River stormed into, rescuing Emma and Snow from their captors. From the way Jack had to be revived through his immortality, he figured that the mission didn't go exactly as planned.

Standing over him in shock were Emma, Snow, River, and the residents of the camp, including the female Chinese warrior he had seen much earlier, who stood with a bloodied sword in hand. The sword clued Jack in on what happened – as he and River made an attempt in getting Emma and Snow out, the Chinese warrior attacked him from behind by stabbing her sword through his torso, believing it to have killed him. How sorely wrong she turned out to be!

"Um…Jack?" A stunned Emma managed to say. "A-Are you…alright?"

He grinned over her surprise. "Told ya, didn't I?"

"What manner of man are you, stranger?" asked the Chinese warrior.

"He's an immortal." A voice spoke out of Jack's view; he sat up and turned slightly to see a literal black knight in shiny armor approach, looking directly at him. "I've seen your kind many times before."

Jack chuckled as he got back on his feet again. "My kind, eh? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were prejudiced, Mister…?"

"Lancelot. And I'm not prejudiced. Just fascinated."

Jack nodded while smiling over the familiarity in the knight's legendary name. "Well, _Lancelot_, now that you know you and your people can't kill me, all of you should also know that we _will_ be leaving with our friends."

"Is your friend immortal herself?"

As he heard this question being asked, Jack knew exactly who the person was talking about. He turned to see the princess that he had seen with the Chinese warrior earlier grab River from behind and hold a dagger to her throat. This action was met with disapproval from the Chinese warrior as she instructed the princess, "Aurora, let her go!"

"They plan to escape with our prisoners!" Aurora exclaimed.

"No, we are _not_ escaping." Snow assured.

Her declaration confused Harkness. "What?"

"Jack, Lancelot is an old friend of mine." Snow informed. "We can trust him."

"Like we could trust Mulan over here after she _tried_ to kill me?" Jack gestured to the Chinese warrior as he made his point.

"How do you know of my name, stranger?"

Harkness derisively replied: "Call it a _wild_ guess. And it's Captain Harkness, not 'stranger.'"

"Mulan was merely protecting us." Lancelot told Jack. "You and your friend _did_ storm our encampment unannounced."

"True. But you took our friends prisoner when they did _nothing_ wrong." Jack retorted.

"A mistake that I willingly admit to. I have even agreed to let Snow and Emma leave the camp for a daring mission. So can we call a truce?"

Lancelot stuck his hand out to Jack, who was hesitant in shaking it at first but brought himself to do it for Snow, Emma, and especially River, who was still being held at knifepoint by Aurora until Lancelot gave the order for her release. Although Aurora was forced to oblige to the command, she still remained suspicious of not just River and Jack but Emma and Snow as well. The princess left the group in a huff.

Once the atmosphere returned to a calm state, Jack asked Snow, "So what 'daring' mission are you two going on?"

Snow had a hopeful smile as she explained: "There may be one portal we can take back to Storybrooke."

"Where is it?" River inquired.

"She's not willing to say because of Cora." Emma said.

"Cora?" Jack questioned.

"This woman we met inside the camp's prison who turns out to be Regina's mother." Emma revealed.

Harkness raised curious eyebrows. "Regina's _mother_? Not sure if I'm ready for _that_ yet."

It was then that Snow, realizing that she and Emma were now reunited with Jack and River, attempted to convince Lancelot of a change in their plan. "You suggested for us to bring someone to defend us. Jack _can_."

Lancelot looked long and hard at Harkness. "No offense to the immortal—"

"Captain Harkness." Jack snidely corrected.

"No offense to _Captain Harkness_, but I'm doubtful of his knowledge of this world as much as your daughter's."

"Well, that depends," said Emma, who turned to Jack and asked, "Have you ever faced an ogre before?"

Jack briefly pondered on the question and answered, "No, but I've faced enough Weevils to be prepared for any vicious creatures _this_ place can throw at me."

Before Emma could ask him what a "Weevil" was, River reminded everyone of her presence as she added to Jack's claim, "I've faced ogres here once before – the Doctor and I defeated five of them. They never saw what hit them."

"Then you two must've faced a different kind of ogre, because most ogres are blind." Snow informed. "They hunt by sound alone."

This fact surprised River, who looked back on the battle she and the Doctor involved themselves in much differently now.

"Let's arm ourselves." Mulan suggested. "If we are going through the ogre-infested forest, then we will surely need weapons." She looked to Jack and added, "You, on the other hand, might not need much protection. Your immortality itself is a weapon."

"That's a matter of perspective." Jack cynically remarked while Emma looked to him curiously, realizing that all of the stories he told about being immortal had just as much truth in them as the place she was presently trapped in.


	10. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine: When Madmen Meet**

The Doctor never had an American take on "Fish Fingers and Custard" that tasted as well as the British kind than he did after having a quick lunch break at Granny's Diner on Red's recommendation. Fish sticks (as they were called there) and custard would be the _only_ thing he would eat from there every breakfast, lunch, and dinner he spent while in Storybrooke. Upon leaving the diner with a satisfied stomach, he made a mental note to himself to thank Red for putting his favorite dish on the menu just for him. She certainly was looking out for him, even though he had no memory of her or the marriage they once had together.

As much as he looked forward to having the meal again at dinnertime, the Doctor knew that he needed to refocus on finding a way into the fairy tale world to rescue Jack, Emma, and Snow. While he approached the TARDIS, however, he heard a clicking sound and felt something press against the back of his head. He then heard a voice tell him, "Don't do anything stupid, Doctor. Just open that door and take me inside your TARDIS."

It was clear to the Doctor that he was legitimately being held at gunpoint, but he did not know by whom. Rather than question who the bandit was or his purposes for holding him at gunpoint, the Doctor opted instead for opening the right door of the police box and letting the both of them inside. As they entered the TARDIS, the Doctor heard a small gasp emerge from his hijacker; apparently, it was his first time in the TARDIS as well.

After momentarily taking in the reality of it being bigger on the inside, the man then instructed, "Okay, now the next part should be relatively easy for you – I want you to take me _out_ of here."

"I'm afraid I can't."

He felt the barrel of the gun press harder against the back of his head.

"You can't? Or you _won't_?"

"No, I can't." He then turned around to face the man, which he did with ease after hearing the request and realizing that he was the only way this man could get what he wanted. Finally seeing the face of his hijacker, the Doctor surprisingly recognized him. "You're Jefferson."

"Yeah, we both already know that!"

"Actually, I _don't_ know. But because Regina knows, I know, too." The Doctor's response brought confusion upon the face of his hijacker. "I've lost all the memories I had of the people here and the lives they had before. The Evil Queen – Regina – did something to me that robbed me of those memories. But, just recently, I gained all of _her _memories…and you were in them."

Jefferson chuckled amusingly. "For once, even I find something like _that_ crazy to believe. But since it _is_ Regina, and they are _her_ memories, then you know why I _have_ to leave this place."

"Yes, I do, but I'm telling you now that you _can't_ leave."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't!"

"Your daughter, Paige." The Doctor saw the threatening demeanor of Jefferson begin to fade. "I know that you lost her when you were trapped in Wonderland. And now that the curse is lifted on her, you're too frightened to see her again because of what she'll think of you. Leaving her isn't the answer, Jefferson."

"Yes, it is!"

"You will forget _everything_ about her if you leave."

"That's the only way to get rid of the pain – to get rid of the misery I've felt for _twenty-eight_ years watching her live not knowing who I was!"

"But she remembers who you are _now_! She's out there looking for you!"

Jefferson shook his head, refusing to accept the Doctor's claim. "Just start up your machine and take me away from this place. I don't _want_ to be here anymore. I don't _want_ to remember who I am or who I used to be."

The Doctor simply refused to acknowledge Jefferson's request.

"Don't make me shoot you, Doctor!"

"If you do, then who will fly the TARDIS? You?"

"I can try."

"No, you won't. No one can fly the TARDIS but me and one other person."

Jefferson's grip on the gun grew tenser as he continued to aim it at the Doctor's head. The Doctor remained confident, which amaze even him, considering the fact that he hadn't a clue what Jefferson's next move would have been. A few intense minutes of silence had passed and then Jefferson put down the gun, blowing out a frustrated breath. "Damn you," he whispered to the Doctor before storming out of the TARDIS.

With Jefferson gone, the Doctor sighed, feeling a little relieved that he once again avoided death. Although the memories he had of Jefferson were not his own, he wondered what history he _did_ have with the Mad Hatter to evoke such a violent purpose in using the TARDIS as a means of escape.

Just outside the TARDIS, Henry – defying his grandfather's wish for him to go to school – had crossed the street corner to go into the police box, looking to the Doctor for help in finding Jefferson. However, he soon noticed the very man he had been searching for come out of the TARDIS himself for reasons unknown to Henry. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Henry tailed Jefferson, keeping a careful distance between the both of them.


	11. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten: Wishing for the Stars**

Jack, Emma, River, Snow, and Mulan trekked through the forest with sunset approaching. Snow and Mulan kept up front leading the group while Jack remained in between them and Emma and River, who kept the rear. Walking side-by-side with River, Emma began to grow curious about the woman, having never seen her before; then again, she had never seen _anyone_ in that world before that day. "I'm sorry, but…are you a fairy tale character?" Her question brought an amused grin on River's face. "It's just that…everyone here is new to me until I find out who they are and…I just can't figure _you_ out."

River chuckled. "I'm not from this world, if that's what you're asking."

Emma seemed surprised. "Oh, well, uh…where _are_ you from?" She then began to figure it out. "Wait. You know the Doctor, too?"

"Yes," said River, with a nod. "He's my husband."

Now Emma was _really_ surprised. She had even more questions to ask River before Mulan stopped in one spot amidst a large clearing and said, "This will do. We'll make camp here for the night. We just need to find water – collect some firewood."

"Great." Emma said. "Easy task."

"Actually, Emma, I thought it'd be best for you to stay here and guard the campsite while the rest of us get food and water." Snow suggested.

"You mean the big, empty clearing?" Emma scathingly remarked. "C'mon, you're even taking Jack with you, and he's been here no longer than I have."

"Gee, thanks," said Harkness.

Snow sighed in frustration. "I just need _you_ to be safe…for _me_."

Seeing how disappointed Emma was over the thought of being left alone, River stepped in and offered her services: "I'll stay with her, so that she won't be too lonely while you're all away."

"Thank you, River. We'll be right back." Snow said, before she and Mulan went in separate directions with Jack going with Mulan.

As soon as they were alone, Emma turned to River and said, "She thinks I'm out of my element here, but I am fine."

"I know exactly how you feel. I felt useless in this world when I first came here long before you and Jack. The Doctor helped me to survive, of course, for that short period we were together."

"You've traveled with him before?"

River nodded. "We've visited countless worlds, come across millions of species, and saved the universe more times than I can remember. The Doctor is a savior, just like you. The people look to him and praise him – though many have feared him as well. But I truly believe if he were here with us right now, he'd _never_ find us a way out like your mother has. Magic has been a great challenge for even him."

Thinking about what River was telling her, Emma stood amazed. "From what I read in that Verity Newman book, I thought for sure that the Doctor was more of a myth than this place. But, seeing that big-little blue box of his, it's just so…incredible. The idea of him being an alien from another world. I mean, that's a whole different thing to take in."

"For you and many others he has traveled with."

"You mean _more_ people have traveled with him?"

"Oh, darling, he's shown the stars to countless others. Companions, he calls us. I've only got to meet two of them, because they were my parents, of course. But he takes so many with him to keep himself from being lonely. We're all that he's got and it tears him apart to see us leave him – whether it's by choice or…" She paused somberly and added with a hint of hesitation, "by death."

Emma drew concern from that last part. "He's had people die from journeying with him?" She then remembered the names of the people that were mentioned during her first time in the TARDIS. "Amy and Rory – they died." She saw River confirm this with a sad nod. "But I thought they were taken by those…" She stumbled on the peculiar name of the species that the Doctor referred in their earlier discussion, settling on a more layman terminology, "…those _angel things_ and sent away to another time or something."

"To the Weeping Angels, living the rest of your lifespan in another timeline _is_ considered death."

Emma shrugged on the idea. "Sounds like a pretty lenient death sentence."

"Not for the Doctor – he _hates_ to see his companions grow old, when he can't himself – not like regular humans. When you dedicate a lifetime's worth of journeying with the Doctor, you must anticipate the consequences for yourself _and_ him."

"I'd welcome that kind of journey. To see the stars – to see other planets outside our solar system – that's practically a dream to a lot of people. Even I dreamt of something like that once."

River smiled. "Well, perhaps you'll get your chance when we return home."

Hope sparked into the eyes of Emma. "Me? Travel with the Doctor?"

"Emma Swan – Companion of the Doctor." River teased.

Emma silently admitted how captivating that title sounded – and even a tad overwhelming. She thought back to that brief moment in the TARDIS – how huge it looked on the inside to her and others who stepped inside of it. With a surprise like that, she wondered what more she could see of the Doctor's life. Would it be more thrilling than what she had seen so far in the world she was born in?


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Eleven: Mind Games**

Regina left Granny's Diner feeling angry and betrayed. It seemed as if the lunch that Henry called her for was some type of ruse – one that she had difficulty trying to figure out. The one possibility that ran through her mind was that someone coaxed him into it, using him to get something they wanted. It didn't surprise her one bit that someone would go to such extremes, but the thought of Henry going along with it without much temptation broke her heart. She walked out of the diner with her head held high, trying her best not to look weak or vulnerable to any passersby. A few stares were directed her way, and she did not have to even look to notice them. Being out in the open for a fake promise, her vulnerability began to emerge; she was beyond humiliated.

Moving down the sidewalk, she came across the TARDIS. The sight of it briefly took her mind off of Henry and his ruse. Knowing what it really was on the inside, Regina was fascinated by it. A police box on the outside and a vast spaceship on the inside – it was magic or science (or both) that she wished could've been in her grasp when she was once the "Evil Queen," as they called her. She was once promised to have it by Rumplestiltskin when he had claimed to come across it several times – some of those times being before he became "The Dark One." She even confronted it and the Doctor once when he refused to hand it over to her, leading her on a hunt to get it.

As Regina marveled over the police box exterior of the TARDIS, the door suddenly opened in front of her. By the time the Doctor stepped out and made eye contact with her, she knew it was too late to turn around and leave. Instead, she smiled and wryly said, "Doctor."

The Doctor returned her wryness in response. "Your Majesty. What can I do for you today?"

"Nothing of the sort. I was merely admiring your ship." She gently patted the "wooden" hull. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be going."

She walked away from the Doctor and the TARDIS, ending their conversation on an abrupt note. What the Doctor said next stopped her dead in her tracks: "Henry betrayed your trust."

Regina turned and glared at him as if she anticipated his swift observation. "Don't believe for a second that just because the transference works both ways you can start playing mind games with _me_, Doctor."

"This _isn't_ a game, Regina. A friend of mine once inherited the Time Lord mind by accident, and it nearly killed her before I took it all away…along with all her memories of me."

"My magic protects me from that chance."

"And how much of your magic do you still have left in this world?"

The Doctor's question stumped Regina; she didn't have a witty retort to counteract it, because she knew it was the exact thing that she was thinking as well. It was then she and the Doctor heard David/James call out to her, running up to the both of them and interrupting their conversation.

"Regina, is Henry with you?"

She didn't welcome James's sudden presence with any positivity. "I would suspect he'd be with you, since you both conspired against me."

Her sardonic remark only agitated James more. "This is _serious_! The school just called and told me that Henry didn't make it to school today."

"When was the last time you saw him?" The Doctor inquired.

"Just this morning. He wanted to help me find Jefferson."

Regina frowned. "There's that name again – Jefferson. Who is he?"

The Doctor suspiciously looked her way; clearly, he knew about the act she was playing, detecting the lie as it was told.

"That's beside the point. We need to find out where he is. Do you have _any_ ideas, Regina?"

Regina hesitated in providing any assistance for the man who took her son away, yet she knew that Henry's safety mattered more than any vendetta she had with him. "There's only one of two places he could be. And since we can rule home out, that only leaves my office in the town hall. If he's looking for this Jefferson, then he'd be looking for my records or…" She stopped for a brief moment as she appeared to be alarmed, "my keys to the town."

James accepted this information with a nod. "Where do you think he'll take one of these keys?"

Regina shut her eyes tight, finding it frustrating to reveal her secrets to James. The Doctor did it for her: "There's a vault in the graveyard right beneath her father's tomb. That's where Henry will be." Regina glared his way as he provided this information to James.

"Thanks, Doctor." Informed of the whereabouts of his grandson, James left their side, disappearing around the corner.

"You had no right in telling him that." Regina scolded.

"I had _every_ right."

"If this is your way of trying to get me to relinquish your memories, then you'll have to try _much_ harder, Doctor." She quickly walked away from him before any more could've been said. Watching her leave, the Doctor shook his head in defeat and returned inside the TARDIS.


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter Twelve: The Best Defense**

After an intense encounter with an ogre and even Princess Aurora, who ended up accompanying them on their journey after an attempted assassination on Snow White, the group arrived at their destination – Snow and Charming's old castle. It was clear evidence that their land, believed to have been vanquished by the curse, was still in existence. The castle, however, had been ravaged from time; it was not the same majestic home as Snow once remembered it as. Emma was overwhelmed from the sight of her birthplace; everything she once believed about her history was washed away by the truth that she saw before her.

The group moved inside the castle, making it all the way to what was supposed to have been Emma's nursery. Emma was in awe more so from this room than the rest of the castle. "Oh, my god." Her eyes then locked on the wardrobe her mother had mentioned being their way back to Storybrooke. "I recognize this from Henry's book."

Jack smiled as he gazed upon the room, until he looked over to Snow, who he could see beginning to cry as she stood in the room for the first time in years. Realizing that mother and daughter should have their moment alone together, Harkness looked to River, Mulan, and Aurora and nodded his head towards the doorway. The three women caught his drift from the nod and headed out of the room with him.

Once they were outside, Mulan whispered to River and Jack, "We'll make camp here for the night. You both stand by the gate while we have a look around."

Harkness saluted to Mulan in acceptance of the orders. The salute puzzled Mulan as she left them, amusing Jack a little. "You'd think even armies in fairy tale land would use the standard salute." He looked to River, who appeared a little paranoid, eyes darting all about the hall they stood in. "What's eating you?"

"Have you noticed there are an excessive amount of statues in this castle?"

Jack chuckled on the question. "It's a _castle_."

"I'm serious, Jack."

"Why so jumpy about a bunch of statues? They're not going to bite us."

River didn't respond, which made Jack a bit wary of her paranoia. He had to remind himself that River _did_ travel with the Doctor and had presumably seen things with him that Jack hadn't. If she spoke of peculiar statues that could possibly bite, then he knew that he needed to be as watchful as her. It was then the both of them heard movement in the shadows, believing at first to be just Mulan and Aurora scavenging for items to make camp with. A figure began to approach, prompting Jack and River to pull out their guns and take aim.

"Don't make another move, unless you're looking to die tonight." Jack warned the shadowed visitor.

The figure raised its hands and stepped into the moonlight that shined through the nearest window, revealing its identity – it was Lancelot. "No need to be alarmed, my friends."

Feeling relieved to see the knight there in the castle, River and Jack holstered their guns, which allowed Lancelot to lower his hands. "What the hell are you doing here?" Jack asked him.

"I came to help." He gestured to the door to the nursery and asked, "Are Emma and Snow in there?"

"Yes." River answered. "They've found the wardrobe to return us to our world."

Lancelot smiled. "May I go inside?"

"Sure. No problem." Jack acknowledged before he and River parted to allow the knight to walk into the nursery and surprise Snow and Emma. As they watched him enter, Harkness couldn't shake off a strange feeling that he had about his presence. "Something feels off about him being here."

River laughed. "_Now_ who's the jumpy one?"

Jack laughed with her as they both faced the hallway again, only to be witness the unexpected presence of a statue that stood in the middle of the hallway. Of course, River knew that this was no ordinary statue – not one that preferably went with the castle structure that surrounded them. This was a Weeping Angel – the very same species that she just recently encountered with the Doctor in Manhattan.

"Don't…blink," she cautioned Jack.

Harkness stood confused. "What?"

"Just _don't_, Jack! Trust me on this!"

"What the hell is it? Where did it come from?"

"It's called a Weeping Angel…and as for where it came from, I have _no_ idea."

"Well, how long do we…?"

Jack stopped just as he heard commotion taking place inside the nursery. He impulsively looked into the room to see a woman throwing Emma and Snow around it by what Harkness could only assume was magic. Lancelot was nowhere to be found in the room, which only confirmed what Jack had felt when they allowed him in – that wasn't the _real_ Lancelot.

"Emma and Mary Margaret are in trouble," he alerted River, who remained staring at the Weeping Angel without blinking.

Mulan and Aurora promptly reentered the scene, hearing the commotion themselves. They were baffled by the strange statue standing in the hall. Aurora even questioned its presence: "Where did this come from?"

"That's really not what's important right now." River said. "Get inside the nursery and help Emma and Snow."

Mulan and Aurora did as she instructed, leaving her and Jack continuing to face the Weeping Angel. "They're gonna need help," said Harkness. "Get in there and give them some."

"I can't leave you with this, Jack."

"I've dealt with worse."

"Not this worse – not a Weeping Angel."

"I can't die, River. Whatever it does to me, it will only be pointless."

River thought about the point Jack made to convince her. Jack's immortality was the best defense against the Weeping Angel. Feeling assured of Jack's survival chances, River left him to fend off against the Weeping Angel and stormed into the nursery with her gun drawn. She arrived in time to see the woman who attacked Emma and Snow vanished in a puff of purple smoke. The wardrobe was engulfed in flames, taking away their one way back into Storybrooke.

Recovering from the attack, Snow showed gratitude to Emma. "You saved me."

"Yeah, well…where is she?"

"Gone."

"So's our ride home."

As Emma and Snow dolefully watched the wardrobe burn, River holstered her gun and asked the women, "Who was that witch that attacked you?"

"It was Cora." Emma answered. "The lady we met back at the camp."

"And where's Lancelot?" River inquired, looking all about the nursery. "We let him into the room."

"He's dead." Snow sadly confirmed. "Cora killed him some time ago. Lancelot was never really with us. It was all a trick by Cora, just to find a way out of this world and into Storybrooke." She sighed before she added, "Lancelot was one of the most noble knights I ever knew."

Mulan was full of frustration. "How could I be so blind? How could I not see that it was Cora?"

"Well, to be fair, the whole shape-shifting thing threw me, too." Emma admitted.

"What are we going to tell the people on the island?" Mulan questioned.

"The truth," Snow answered. "That Lancelot was cut down by a terrible villain and he died an honorable death."

Mulan accepted this advice yet still remained troubled. "Cora's still out there. We need to find her. We need to defend what's left of the kingdom."

"Who's going to lead us? You?" Aurora asked.

"No." Mulan gestured to Snow. "Her."

Snow, surprised of Mulan volunteering her for the job, smiled and said, "I'm honored, but Emma and I still have to find a way back to Storybrooke."

"We'll help you." Mulan offered. "We'll find a way, won't we?" She looked to Aurora for support.

The princess nodded with a small smile. "Yes. Perhaps it'll help me channel my anger." Her support made Snow feel extremely grateful and even saw it as an apology for the earlier attempt on her life.

In the midst of all the girl talk, River was suddenly reminded of the fact that Jack was still out in the hall with the Weeping Angel. After exclaiming his name to unintentionally alert the other women in the room, she rushed outside with them to assist Harkness with the angel. However, when they reemerged in the hall, Jack was gone – and the Weeping Angel with him. All that remained was a large pile of dark gray ashes, which sat exactly where the Weeping Angel once stood.

"Where's Jack?" Emma asked, clearly as confused as everyone else from the immortal captain's disappearance.

Mulan was even more so from the Weeping Angel's absence. "Where's that strange statue that was here?"

"Strange statue?" Snow repeated Mulan's words with more confusion. She then remembered the stories that the Doctor had told her and Emma about moving statues that can make people disappear, much like Jack had. "Wait. Don't tell me that a Weeping Angel was _here_."

"What is a Weeping Angel?" Aurora asked.

"A funky type of statue that kills you by sending you back in time." Just from the way Emma described it to Mulan and Aurora sounded insane, but she had seen a lot of insane things in the last twenty-four hours. "And it looks like it just took Jack from us."

While the other women were conversing, River knelt down and scanned the ashes with her vortex manipulator.

"But he can't die," Mulan pointed out. "If this 'Weeping Angel' kills its prey, then he should still be here somewhere…shouldn't he?"

Emma and Snow weren't entirely sure how to confirm that. There was still much about Jack's immortality that left them uncertain; they knew as much about it as they did the Weeping Angels. Of course, they counted on River to provide some information after she finished her scan. "The ashes belong to the angel," she established.

It didn't seem to be enough info for them, which encouraged Emma to say, "And that means?"

"The Angels consume the life energy of their victims once they've transported them back through time." River explained. "With Jack, they have an overabundance of it, due to his immortality. It's like when you consume large quantities of food and your stomach gets so full that you cannot eat another bite. And when you do, your body gives out and you die. When the Angel took Jack, it practically gave its own death sentence." She indicated the pile of ashes near her. "Too much life energy turns the angel into dust. You were right, Mulan – Jack's immortality _is_ a weapon…one of the few that can put an end to Weeping Angels."


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen: Fish Sticks, Custard, and a Key**

Red/Ruby set the plate of fish sticks and the medium-sized bowl of custard down in front of the Doctor. It was the twentieth time he had stopped by Granny's for his favorite dish, and she didn't mind serving it for him one bit. Each day he showed up at the diner was a moment of joy for Red. It was like they were building up new memories of their times together for him, even though she still wished he could remember their marriage in the old land.

As she watched him take the first fish stick and dunk it into the custard, taking a bite afterward, she felt like joining him, which she decided to do for that one day. Sitting right next to him, she took one of the fish sticks and dunked it into the custard. She took a bite and her face swelled with satisfaction. "Never once when we were married did I eat this with you."

"Never?" The Doctor said in genuine surprise.

"I was always worried about its taste, like I'd be eating porridge over pork. But, eating it now is like…wow!"

The Doctor smiled and nodded. "Amy and Rory said the same when they first tried it." His smile slowly faded as he mentally recalled the moment.

Red noticed the frown developing on his face and felt his sorrow. "You still miss them, don't you?"

He dolefully stirred another fish stick in the bowl custard. "Nearly a whole month has passed for me since I watched them disappear right in front of me. I keep wondering what would've happened differently…if I could've saved them."

Red comfortingly touched his arm, which led the Doctor into staring right into her eyes as she stared into his. "You did all you could to save them. Don't blame yourself." The Doctor still seemed unsure of it. Briefly looking away from Red, he reached inside of his coat to retrieve a small folded piece of paper and handed it over to her. Red looked at the paper in confusion and asked, "What's this?"

"The afterword she – Amy – wrote for me in a book she published."

Unfolding the piece of paper, Red read what the afterword had said:

_Afterword, by Amelia Williams. Hello, old friend, and here we are. You and me, on the last page. By the time you read these words, Rory and I will be long gone, so know that we lived well and were very happy. And, above all else, know that we will love you, always. Sometimes, I do worry about you though; I think, once we're gone, you won't be coming back here for a long while, and you might be alone, which you should never be. Don't be alone, Doctor._

_ And do one more thing for me: there's a little girl, waiting in a garden; she's going to wait a long while, so she is going to need a lot of hope. Go to her. Tell her a story. Tell her that, if she's patient, the days are coming that she'll never forget. Tell her she'll go to sea and fight pirates, she'll fall in love with a man who'll wait two thousand years to keep her safe. Tell her she'll give hope to the greatest painter who ever lived, and save a whale in outer space. Tell her: This is the story of Amelia Pond - and this, is how it ends._

Tears filled Red's eyes after she finished reading the afterword. Every word of it made her heart glow with delight for the Doctor, because it confirmed for her that Amy lived a safe and happy life before her passing and that the Doctor needn't worry about a thing. "It's _very_ beautiful." The Doctor nodded and Red realized that he still looked sad. "I know it's hard to say goodbye to the ones you love. When I lost Peter, I was just as devastated. I'm still haunted of how he died, because _I_ was the one who killed him."

"No, it wasn't. You were an entirely different being at the time."

Red rapidly blinked a few times in surprise, seeming very hopeful. "You remember what happened?"

The Doctor smiled over his misleading remark. "I've been reading Henry's book."

Red's hope quickly dispersed. "Oh." But they were suddenly lifted again when she realized: "Well, maybe the book will help spark some of those old memories…you know…of us?"

"I wish they could. But my memories of your old land – our lives together – were purged. I only remember things that Regina remembers. Things about her life."

"Maybe one of her memories would explain how you forgot about your life as John Smith."

The Doctor shook his head in despair. "I've tried. It just seems like any memories she has of _me_ are locked away from me. At no point in her history do I see myself, just…other people."

Red wrapped her arms around his left arm and lightly rested her head on his shoulder. The Doctor knew he should've minded the way she was cozying up to her at their booth, but from the way he felt at that time, he didn't. It made him feel relaxed for the first time in a long while; after all he went through with losing River, Jack, Emma, and Snow and being held at gunpoint by Jefferson in the TARDIS, it was nice to have someone take the time to comfort him.

The bell above the entrance into the diner rang, drawing their attention to the door as Belle stepped in. Red remembered meeting her the other day when she came into the diner for the first time, having three iced teas. She even learned about hamburgers for the first time, which was a surprise to Red. And, earlier that morning, she had to be educated on breakfast. Belle and Red quickly developed into good friends, prompting Belle into coming into the diner frequently. That day, she received a gift from someone that was dropped off at the front desk in the diner; since then, Red wondered what it was or who it was from, and it looked like she was going to find out as Belle sat their booth.

"Welcome back," Red told her.

Belle smiled as she looked the Doctor's way. "Is this him?"

Red nodded with a smile and answered her: "Yep. This is him."

"And who am I again?" The Doctor uttered, completely baffled.

Both women chuckled before Belle extended her hand out to the Doctor. "Pleasure to meet you, Doctor. My name is Belle."

The Doctor gently shook her hand, his face illuminating with awareness as he realized who he was meeting. "Of _Beauty and the Beast_?"

Belle appeared confused. "I'm sorry?"

"He's been reading a book about the lives we lived before this one, and you're in it just like the rest of us."

"Actually, I haven't found her yet. I just remember the movie."

Belle was still puzzled but she nonetheless enjoyed finally getting to meet the legendary Doctor she remembered hearing about. Meanwhile, Red brought their focus on the gift Belle received earlier that day. "So? What was it? Who was it from?"

It took a minute for Belle to recall what she was referring to. She held up a key and said, "It was from Mr. Gold…Rumplestiltskin." She saw how alarmed Red and the Doctor looked on this information. "Don't worry. He didn't try to hurt me. He _never_ would, I don't think."

"What did he want?" Red asked.

"And where does that key lead?" The Doctor questioned.

Belle warmly smiled. "It's a key to the library. He got it for me and met me there to admit to me that he was a coward."

"No surprise there." Red ridiculed.

"No, you don't understand. I called him one when I wanted him to open up to me." Belle said. "When he admitted it to me and told me about his son, Baelfire, I felt like I was beginning to know him – the _real_ him – not the monster that my father and everyone else see him to be." She sighed as she looked upon the key in her hands. "I know he's trying very hard to make up for his past mistakes, and I _want_ to help him."

Red wanted to understand Belle's cause for the man she loved, but it was difficult to take in the fact that the man himself was a tyrant in their old land. The Doctor, on the other hand, _could_ understand and felt proud of Belle. "People _can_ change," he said. "I'm an example of that. I used to be a miserable old miser before I became the man I am today. It took ten lives, many wonderful companions, a lot of enemies, and one 'Great War' to help me discover who I am. I'm _still_ discovering with each new life I have, of course, this one including. But I have the tendency for change, just like Rumplestiltskin does."

Belle nodded with a smile. "Thank you, Doctor."

The Doctor felt a squeeze on his left arm, reminding him that Red still had her arms warmly wrapped around it. He looked at her and saw that she was proudly smiling at him for his wonderful words of wisdom. And he smiled right back, feeling proud himself.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Chapter Fourteen: Hook, Line, and TARDIS**

Mulan realized that they were bypassing the haven where they departed from on the previous day to a more secluded area in the forest. She, Aurora, Snow, and Emma had been following River, who was moving at a pace much faster than the four of them. It was becoming a chore just to keep up with her without tripping and falling, and Mulan had grown agitated. "Where are you going?" She asked River. "The encampment is the _other_ way!"

River stopped for a moment to turn to Mulan and sternly address her. "If Cora was Lancelot the entire time she was there, then everyone in the encampment died at any time we were away."

Her assumption was strong enough to surprise the other women. "How do you know that for sure?" Snow asked.

"Call it a hunch, sweetie."

Mulan refused to believe. "No…No, you can't be too sure. I'm going back with or without you."

"If you go there and see that I'm right, then what'll you do?" River rhetorically inquired. "The only chance we have now of getting a step ahead of Cora is the TARDIS."

"The what?" Aurora uttered with confusion.

Snow and Emma both took in the mentioning of the Doctor's dimension-bending, time-traveling machine in the fairy tale world. "Wait. The TARDIS can't be here," said Snow, who exchanged a baffled glance with Emma.

"Yeah, we saw it back in Storybrooke." Emma added.

"Another version of it exists here." River notified. "When we returned to Storybrooke, something separated the Doctor and me – split the TARDIS into two forms within two different planes of existence – one here and the other there."

Hearing this, hope began to ring over Snow. "Then we have our way back home! Surely the TARDIS can take us back!"

River smiled. "That's what I'm hoping, darling. But we first have to find Jack. I trust the TARDIS to get a fix on him. Of course, with him being immortal, that might be something of a problem."

River continued leading the women through the forest until they finally came upon where the TARDIS was situated. Upon seeing the strange blue box, Aurora seemed highly perplexed. "This…is the…the…_thing_ you were talking about?"

"I've heard of stories about a 'magic blue box' that traveled over many lands, including this one." Mulan said. "This 'Doctor' you all speak of…the legends about him are true, aren't they?"

Snow looked to Mulan and nodded with a smile. "Yes, they are. He's helped me many times in the past, even when he lost his identity and became 'John Smith.'" That one piece of information made River frown with suspicion, yet she didn't have the time to question about it. "And, if he were here now, he would surely help us in our predicament."

Listening to her mother's last comment, Emma's eyes shifted over to River, recalling her earlier remark about the Doctor's trouble with magic. She watched as River got the doors to the TARDIS open and allowed them all inside. River expected Mulan and Aurora, who were entering the TARDIS for the first time, to have questions over its larger interior upon discovering it. However, the usual "Bigger on the Inside" moment was suddenly sidelined as soon as the women discovered someone already in the TARDIS, standing by the console.

"What are you doing here?" River asked the intruder, so surprised by his presence that she took out her gun and aimed it at the intruder's head. The intruder turned and faced the women. It was a bearded man donned in black and had a hook in place of his left hand. None of the women recognized the man, which prompted River to ask, "Who the hell are you?"

"Killian Jones," the man responded, "but most people have taken to call me by my more colorful moniker – Hook." He lifted his hook to his face for emphasis.

"As in Captain Hook?" Emma asked.

Hook grinned. "Ah, so you've heard of me."

"How did you get in?" River questioned, not once taking her aim off of Hook.

"I've been inside this enchanted blue box before, courtesy of its owner – the Doctor." Hook explained before revealing a silver key that was fastened onto a silver necklace he wore. "He entrusted me with this key to his vessel after I'd done him a _huge_ service. If I were to ever need his help, then I only need to step inside this blue box and ask for it."

"And what kind of help does Captain Hook require?" River asked.

Hook's face grew intense as he answered: "To exact revenge on the man who took my hand – Rumplestiltskin."

Listening to Hook, River half-turned to Emma's direction and asked her, "Is he telling the truth?"

Emma appeared a bit surprised. "Believe it or not…he is."

Accepting this confirmation, River lowered her gun. "Alright, Hook. You should know the man you're searching for is in Storybrooke, the very land we're trying to get back to. And, unfortunately for you, the Doctor is _also_ in Storybrooke at this time."

This news displeased Hook. "Well, then…I suppose I acquire more assistance than I expected." He then regained confidence as he added, "That is, unless one of you ladies happen to know how to work this machine."

River then reluctantly admitted, "I can."

"Marvelous." Hook said. "But to find your land of Storybrooke, we'll need more. There's an enchanted compass that we need."

"Where do we find it?" Snow asked.

Hook smiled. "How good is this box at climbing beanstalks?"


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Chapter Fifteen: Hope and Faith**

It was nice for the Doctor to be able to step out of the TARDIS and explore parts of Storybrooke every once in a while, especially when there were those that requested his presence, such as the moment James came to him about a discovery the Dwarves made in the mines. He went there with James, Henry, and Mother Superior in the squad car, which the Doctor was thrilled about, considering it was his first time in one – at least to his recollection. Once they arrived in the mines, Happy led them to the part of the caverns where several sparkling blue diamonds were encrusted at the top.

The Doctor scanned the diamonds with the sonic screwdriver. As he had done so, Henry began to ask, "Are those…?"

"Diamonds," answered the Doctor, who glanced at the sonic screwdriver's readings with delight. "Yes, Henry. These sparkly-shimmery objects you see above you are in fact _magical_ diamonds – the kind that makes fairy dust." He then lightly tapped the sonic screwdriver and added, "Trust the sonic."

"No offense, Doc, but I trust my eyes more than your 'magic wand.'" Grumpy jested.

"The magic brought the diamonds back." Mother Superior said. "We just need to refine them – grind them up." She then turned to James and asked, "Do you still have what remains of Jefferson's hat?" James reached into a satchel that he had been carrying the hat inside with him, handing it over to her. "Lock this up. Keep it safe, because by this time tomorrow, we'll have enough magic dust to make it work again."

"So Mary Margaret, Emma, and Jack…" Henry started to say, before James finished his thought for him.

"That's right, kid. We're bringing 'em home."

Charming shared a brief glance with the Doctor, who smiled but with a hint of disparity. There was still another matter entirely that troubled him, and it involved River Song. Though Jack, Emma, and Mary Margaret would return to Storybrooke, River was still somewhere in unknown space – somewhere that not even magic could bring her back.

* * *

A celebration was thrown at Granny's Dinner for the discovery of the diamonds, and the Doctor just could not pass on the invite from everyone to come, especially when it meant that he could see Red again. While sharing a drink of root beer with the crowd, the Doctor kept himself apart from them, seated at one of the booths. He watched James celebrate with Mother Superior, Belle, and the Dwarves, sharing one particular joke with Grumpy about the fall he took while in the mines – the fall that led to their discovery of the diamonds.

The Doctor then caught sight of Ruby as she went to another booth to pick up dishes. He was just about to get up from his booth until he suddenly spotted a man step out from the back of the diner and speak to her. The guy, from what the Doctor could gather, looked to be someone special to her from the casual way the both of them spoke to each other. It was possible this fellow was someone she once loved in the world before Storybrooke, which – in that case – made her unavailable for the Doctor to chat with that night.

Feeling as if he had no part in the festivities to begin with, the Doctor got up from his booth and left Granny's. Belle spotted him as he left, which prompted her to set down her glass of root beer and follow the Doctor outside. She caught him just as he reached archway. "You're leaving the party already?"

He turned as soon as he heard her voice, feeling sheepish for being caught. "Oh? Uh…I just didn't feel like celebrating tonight."

His response made Belle concerned. "Is everything alright?"

The Doctor hesitated in being open with her, but he knew she deserved an honest answer. "No," he managed to get out. "No, I'm not." He walked towards Belle as he continued: "We can bring Emma, Mary Margaret, and Jack back, but there's still one person I just can_not_ bring back."

"Who is it?" Belle inquired.

"Her name's River…River Song. She disappeared from me the moment I came to this town. She told me that I was supposed to help everyone here, but before I could ask how or why, she vanished before my very eyes. I can't even begin to guess where she might be right now…and I'm scared that I'll never see her again."

Belle felt his despair; when he was close enough for her to reach him, she took one of his hands and warmly held it with both of hers. "You helped me not to give up hope and faith that Rumplestiltskin could change. Maybe it's time now for you to follow your own advice for _your_ love."

The Doctor's face registered surprise. "H-How did you know we are in love?"

Belle chuckled. "Trust me, Doctor. I know a person in love when I see one."

He nodded and smiled at her, placing his other hand over the two she had on his first one. The comforting moment was soon disrupted by someone who briskly walked beside them, bumping shoulders with the Doctor along the way without even uttering "Excuse me."

Belle glared at the rude stranger and angrily exclaimed, "It wouldn't hurt to show some courtesy!"

The stranger, who neared the entrance to Granny's, turned around and glared back at Belle and the Doctor; he didn't say a word to either of them before returning to his entry into the diner.

"What a _very_ rude man!" She turned back to the Doctor and asked, "Do you know who he is?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No. Do you?"

"Certainly not."

The two looked back to the diner, both heavily curious.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Chapter Sixteen: Realm Above the Clouds**

Emma stepped out of the TARDIS as soon as it finished materializing upon their next stop, and she was met by the sudden grim atmosphere that surrounded the police box, which appeared like a toy left in someone's backyard – a backyard littered with human skeletal remains, both large and small. Hook, River, Snow, Mulan, and Aurora soon followed her out of the TARDIS, discovering the horrid visage along with her.

"What happened here?" Emma asked.

"It's where the final battle was." Hook explained before going right to business. "Here's the plan: we wait for the giant to fall asleep. When he does, we'll sneak past him into his cave. It's where the treasures are…where the compass lies."

Emma nodded along with the plan. "And then?"

"And then we run like hell." Hook concluded.

"You seriously expect us to _wait_ for a giant to fall asleep?" River asked Hook.

"You have any better ideas?" Hook questioned to her.

Mulan then stepped forward with a white bag. "This will do. Power made from poppies. All he has to do is inhale it." Emma was just about to take the bag from her until she pulled it back. "_I'm_ the one who is going in."

"Like hell you are." Emma contradicted.

"All due respect, I'm the best-equipped to go." Mulan stated.

Snow stepped into their conversation and said, "No, that would be _me_. I'm the most experienced in this group."

"How many wars have you been through?" Mulan asked.

"My share," answered Snow, sounding a little offended.

"It should be me." Aurora declared.

"You? You haven't fought in a battle." Mulan indicated.

"Does there _have_ to be a résumé for confronting giants here?" River sarcastically inquired to the Chinese warrior.

"This is about us getting home to our loved ones." Snow reminded them.

"Which is why it should be _me_ that goes," said Aurora. "I have no loved ones. If I fail, you can still go on."

Having enough of the dispute, Emma put her foot down, boldly telling the women, "It's me. I'm going, and I'm not gonna fail."

River nodded in agreement with the idea. "No offense, but I have more faith in Emma than the rest of you on this one."

Her comment was none too pleasing with Mulan, Aurora, and especially Snow, who strictly told River, "She is new here."

"So you've been telling us _a lot_ lately." River indicated. "But this girl – your daughter – is the one who broke the curse. Without her, you'd still be a hopeless romantic schoolteacher, clinging to love like it's the last bread crumb." Snow wanted to snap back at River for her insulting remark. However, she knew that River spoke the truth about Emma, which was why she so reluctantly remained silent while Emma accepted the white bag from Mulan. As she joined Hook's side, River told them, "We'll be cloaked out here in the TARDIS. The moment we see you come out, I'll get us ready to depart."

Hook amusingly grinned. "Cloaked? As in invisible?"

River smiled over the pirate's amusement. "It seems the Doctor hasn't shared _all_ of his tricks with you, has he?"

After sharing smug glances, Hook and River went their separate ways with their respective parties. Once River, Snow, Mulan, and Aurora were back inside the TARDIS, Emma and Hook looked on with surprise as the police box suddenly became invisible, as if it had departed from its current spot.

From inside the cloaked TARDIS, River switched on the view screen above the control console for her and the other women to see all that was going on outside. Aurora and Mulan were both surprised by the additional capabilities of the TARDIS. "This box truly is a wonder to behold," uttered Aurora.

River tried not to let herself be distracted from the image on the view screen while hearing Aurora voice her astonishment, yet she couldn't suppress a smile. Together with Snow, Mulan, and Aurora, they watched Hook and Emma lure the giant out of his home and knock him out with the poppy powder. The impact of the giant's massive form hitting the ground briefly shook the TARDIS's structure, momentarily knocking the women inside off their feet. Once they got back on their feet and returned their eyes to the view screen, they found only the unconscious giant lying at the entrance.

"They did it," said a relieved Snow. "They're in."

"All we can do now is wait," said River, before she solemnly added, "and pray."


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Chapter Seventeen: Dreamscape**

"Winston, I can't just hop in every time there is a crisis you need averted, especially when it's as trivial as a public speech." The Doctor listened to the Prime Minister on the other end of the TARDIS phone. "Why? Because I'm dealing with something _much_ more important right now." Again, he listened to the impatient voice of Winston Churchill on the other end. "Can't go into the specifics of it, because it's rather hard for me to explain."

As the conversation continued, the door to the TARDIS slowly opened and Henry timidly walked in. The Doctor caught sight of him while on the phone and waved both as a greeting and as a gesture for Henry to give him a second. Henry acknowledged his request with a nod as he walked onto the console platform and sat in the padded chair across from the control console, listening to the last half of the Doctor's phone conversation.

"Well, if it's constructive advice you're looking for, try using a bunch of pronouns and conjunctions. That's the best I can give you on such short notice." He listened to more of Churchill's ramblings over the phone while talking over him. "Winston, Winston! I have to go! A friend just popped in the TARDIS! Good luck on the address!"

Henry watched as he hung up the phone on the console. "I didn't know you had a phone in the TARDIS."

"Didn't always have one, but after one of my companions gave me hers, it seemed like the smart idea to have one for such occasions."

"Who was it you were talking to?"

"Winston Churchill."

Henry's eyes sparked with wonder. "The World War II Prime Minister? But he died years ago. How were you able to talk to him over the phone without traveling back in time?"

"It's complicated. Let's just say it's all in the sound waves. Although I wish the calls wouldn't come so frequently. Nefertiti called just this morning about organizing a honeymoon for her and John Riddell with Genghis Kahn in the Battle of Thermopylae." He then took his mind off the subject and focused on his current guest in the TARDIS. "But enough with me, Henry. What brings you here this afternoon?"

Henry took a deep breath before answering. "I've been having these _really_ bad dreams where I'm in this room…and it's red…and there were no doors, no windows…and these curtains that are on fire…and I'm in this corner…and I'm looking up…and there was someone else there with me. She stares at me through the flames."

He stops, urging the highly interested Doctor to ask, "And then what happens?"

Henry shook his head. "Nothing. Then I wake up."

The Doctor nodded understandingly. "Sounds like a nightmare more than a dream you're having."

"Tell me about it. Each time it gets more and more real, like I can _actually_ feel the heat of the flames."

That one bit of detail greatly concerned the Doctor. "Have you told your mother – Regina – about this?"

"No. The only other person I've told is my grandpa."

The Doctor remained silent for a long period of time and focused. Finally, he told Henry, "I'm going to try something that I haven't in a _long_ time. Do you trust me?"

Henry smiled. "Of course! Why else would I come to _you_ for help rather than anyone else, including Mr. Gold?"

The Doctor smiled back, stepping in closer to Henry and kneeling before him to be at his eye level. "Alright. Just stay still for a second. This won't hurt a bit." He placed his fingertips on the sides of Henry's head and closed his eyes.

Recognizing the gesture, Henry joked, "Isn't this the Vulcan Mind Meld?"

The Doctor briefly frowned. "Don't be silly, Henry. The Vulcans stole it from _us_. Now I need you to concentrate with me. Focus on that room you told me about in your dream. Remember all the details you described – the fire…the corner…the girl."

As much as it troubled Henry, he did exactly as the Doctor instructed, closing his eyes and concentrating. It wasn't long before the Doctor found himself standing in the room itself. He and Henry stood at one side of the room, separated from the other side by a wall of flames. The fire was all around them, surrounding them in an insane inferno and making it virtually impossible to escape. The Doctor saw a panicked Henry crying out to the girl in the room with him; she was just as scared as Henry was, crouching down low to the floor and hiding her face from the flames – making it impossible for Henry (or the Doctor, for that matter) to see her face.

The Doctor attempted to get a closer look at the girl, but the veracities of the dream made it impossible for him to get near her. Even within a memory of the dream, Henry's subconscious was overwhelmed by the immense force that made the situation so real to him. It was this same force that severed the Doctor's link to Henry's mind, shutting him out completely.

He removed his fingertips from Henry's head, which was drenched with sweat as he was breathing heavily. "I'm sorry," he repeatedly told the Doctor.

"It's O.K. It wasn't your fault."

"W-What's happened to me, Doctor?"

"I don't know for sure, but I promise you that I'll find out."

It was then that the phone on the TARDIS console rang, which attracted a moan from the Doctor, who moved away from Henry to answer it.

"Winston, if this is you again, I will…" He stopped and listened to the voice on the other end, which turned out _not_ to be the famed Prime Minister. "Oh, it's you, David. Uh, I-I'm sorry for the outburst. I was just…" Once again, he stopped to listen to the urgency in Charming's address.

From behind the Doctor, Henry could not see what emotions were running through his face as he listened to what his grandfather was telling him. Once the conversation was over and the Doctor slowly hung up the phone, Henry waited for him to turn around and face him, so that he could see if he was alright or not. But the Doctor remained rigid in his stature, his back still facing Henry; with the exception of hanging up the phone, he did not make a single move after his conversation with James.

Now becoming heavily concerned, Henry asked, "Doctor? Is everything okay?"

It was Henry's voice that brought him out of the trance he unwittingly put himself in. He finally turned and faced Henry, showing the intensely mortified expression that covered his face. In a soft, unsteady voice, he said, "No, Henry. I'm afraid everything's _not_ okay."


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Chapter Eighteen: Captain vs. Captain**

"So it's just…in here somewhere?" Emma asked Hook while surrounded by the impressive collection of gold within the lair of the giant. Everything from gold coins to even a gold birdcage was there.

"Allegedly," replied Hook as he stood by the birdcage, spotting something at the top. "Give me a boost, would you, love?"

"So I can't see what you're pocketing?" A doubtful Emma rhetorically asked while joining him beside the birdcage. "No way. Give _me_ a boost."

"Try something new, darling – it's called trust."

She saw the sincerity in his eyes as he recommended this, prompting her to give the idea of trusting him a try.

"That's a lot to ask for, Hook."

Their heads turned and their eyes darted all about, searching for the speaker, who was well hidden in the gold collection. Finally, they heard footsteps coming in one direction and saw a familiar figure step out – Jack Harkness. He drew his gun, aiming directly at the head of Hook. Emma's eyes grew wide with amazement. "Jack! Is it…is it really you?"

"Yeah, it's _really_ me."

"How did you get here, Harkness?" Hook inquired.

"Well, there was a beanstalk and my name just happens to be 'Jack,' so…you do the math on that one. Of course, _my_ version will be _a lot_ better than _his_." He gestured to the skeletal remains of the _other_ "Jack" that lied some distance behind him with the sword that bore the giant killer's name still gripped in what used to be a hand.

Observing the exchange between the two captains, Emma seemed amazed over one thing: "You two _know_ each other?"

"Unfortunately," answered Jack, who didn't take his eyes off of Hook since he stepped out. "That Weeping Angel sent me back a hundred years in the past of this world. Your great-great grandmother says 'Hi' by the way."

"A hundred years?" Emma exclaimed.

"One hundred and twenty…I rounded." Harkness admitted. "Got to know more about this place – the people, the food, the currency – I've learned who to trust and who _not_ to trust." He glared at Hook on the last part of his statement. "What lies did you tell her, Hook?"

Hook confidently smiled. "Merely the truth – that I hope to find the Doctor to get revenge on Rumplestiltskin. And since she's going the same place he is now, the only way to do so is by obtaining the compass, which we were just about to grab before you so _abruptly_ interrupted us."

"I see." Harkness calmly remarked. "But I _also_ see that you conveniently left out the part where you're secretly working with Cora, who sent you to Emma and Mary Margaret to gain their trust and use them to get the compass, betraying them after you did."

Hearing this, Emma furiously looked to Hook and yelled, "What?"

Hook attempted to plead his case until the sound of thunderous footsteps and a quaking sensation that caused the gold around them to clatter interrupted the confrontation. The three looked to the door, all knowing what was approaching. "I'd suggest we belay this squabble and get under something…_NOW!_"

Following Hook's advice, they began to scatter about the room, just as the giant leaped his way in, causing the very foundation of his lair to shake violently. The monstrous movements loosened stones from the ceiling and landed atop of Hook, burying him. Meanwhile, the giant finally caught up with Jack and Emma, reaching down and picking Harkness up. The giant proceeded to squeeze the life out of Jack in his massive hand, which consumed Jack's body from the shoulder down and pinned down his arms.

Emma watched helplessly. "Jack!"

"Emma…" Jack gasped. "Get it…Get it…"

"I can't just leave you to die!"

As his body was being robbed of air, he managed to whisper one word: "Immortal."

Emma felt like a dunce for forgetting that crucial detail. Quickly, she ran for the birdcage, only to realize as she approached it that she still needed a boost to reach where the compass supposedly was. Before she could look for an object to aid her, she heard a sickening _crunch_ and looked up to see the giant drop Jack's lifeless body out of his hand, causing it to land on a pile of gold coins. He glared down at Emma, who was his next target, and she ran for her life. The giant screamed furiously and stomped monstrously as he chased after her, causing towers of gold coins to collapse into piles much like the one Harkness landed in.

When Emma reached a trip wire that she and Hook came across earlier in their journey, she leaped over it and went for the sword of Jack the Giant Killer. As the Giant neared her, Emma swiped at the wire with the sword, triggering the large iron trap that it was meant for. It fell directly on the giant and pinned him to the floor. Emma nearly fell from the massive quake that followed from the giant's enormous body hitting the ground under the weight of the trap.

She approached the large cage that the giant was contained in and pointed her sword between two big bars at the eyes of the giant. "Nice security system. Efficient."

* * *

Jack reawakened with a loud gasp; he never been happier to find breathe again after the way he just died. His resurrection process made Emma jump in surprise as she was crouched beside him. _Still haven't gotten used to that_, she thought while checking on the immortal captain. "It's okay, Jack. We're alright."

"The giant," uttered Jack, looking rapidly around the area. "Is he…?"

"He's letting us go."

"What?"

"I could've killed him with Jack's sword…the _other_ Jack, not you, I mean…so he chose to let us go in exchange for sparing his life."

"_All_ of us, including…?"

There was a loud groan heard beneath the stones that buried Hook, signifying that the pirate had survived. His groaning was a reminder for Emma of his betrayal. "I wanted to trust him. The look on his face was so sincere when he asked me to trust him. All this time…working with Cora?"

"He's a conman, Emma." Harkness said. "And if there's anyone who knows a thing or two about cons, it's me. I used to be as bad as him." As he mentioned this to Emma, he went to the rubble and looked underneath it to find Hook. Once he found the pirate captain, he dragged his unconscious body to a nearby pillar that he manacled him to.

Emma watched him do the deed with a sense of uncertainty. "Jack…I know I asked this before, but I've gotta ask again…is it _really_ you?"

Jack turned and looked to Emma, chuckling. "You're actually going to ask me that after seeing my body crushed under the might of a giant and returning back to life. Who else do you know can do that?"

"Someone with magical capabilities…someone like Cora."

Jack now saw where she was going and it made him uneasy. "Emma…you have to trust me." He then heard a _click_ and suddenly found himself staring down the barrel of his own gun, which was in the hands of Emma. "We both know that's _not_ going to do either of us any good."

"You had this gun with you for a hundred years, yet somehow it's managed to still be in excellent condition and carry a crapload of bullets. Why is that, Jack?"

"It's a long story. One that I'm willing to share as soon as we get outta here."

"I'm giving you a chance _right now_ to prove to me that you're Captain Jack Harkness before I make you chain yourself up and leave you here with Hook and the giant. Tell me something that only Jack would know – something that Cora didn't have to spy on him to know in the hundred years he's been trapped in this world."

"Emma…"

"_TELL ME!_"

Jack sighed, feeling pressure on himself to have to think hard about something that _he_ only knew about. It then hit him – the one thing that he had to do to convince her. Without warning, Harkness stepped in very close to Emma, bypassing the gun in her hand, and kissed her squarely on the lips. Emma's eyes enlarged from the unexpected physical contact from Jack Harkness; she dropped his gun as her arms went limp, taking in the magnificent kiss. After what felt like an eternity, Jack finally moved his lips away from Emma's and said, "I love you, Emma Swan."

The extremely baffled Emma stared into Jack's eyes, seeing the truthfulness in his words, which both relieved and shocked her. "That must've been one helluva millennium."


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Chapter Nineteen: In Need of a Doctor**

As soon as the TARDIS rematerialized at the docks, the Doctor rushed out and was immediately greeted by James. "I got here as soon as I received your call," the Doctor told the prince. "How is she?"

"She's beyond apprehensive right now, Doctor." James informed. "I know you two are _very_ close, which is why I called you. I'm hoping you'll be able to talk some sense into her. She thinks that she's killed Billy."

"Billy?" The Doctor uttered the name in confusion.

"He's a mechanic here, but he was a mouse named Gus in the other world."

They passed a dumpster where a pair of legs was sticking out. The Doctor saw the legs and then saw Granny covering up something with a long sheet in front of a tow truck where Ruby had been sobbing uncontrollably. From the sight, he deduced that the legs in the dumpster belonged to Billy, whose other half was in front of the tow truck.

The Doctor immediately went to the sobbing Red, who backed away from him the moment she saw him approach. "Stay away from me," she yelled with immense caution.

"Ruby, listen to me _closely_." The Doctor instructed. "You are _not_ responsible for Billy's death."

"How do you know?" She frantically questioned. "You don't even remember what I'm capable of doing when there's a full moon! I killed last night, and I'll kill again _this_ night unless someone locks me up!"

The Doctor saw the fear past the tears in her eyes, which encouraged him to turn to James and say, "Do it."

His command surprised even Charming. "What?"

"If she wants to be locked up, then she'll be locked up," said the Doctor, "but she'll be locked with me in the TARDIS."

"NO!" Red screamed.

"Doctor, with all due respect, your blue box is the _last_ place she needs to be." Granny said.

"There is one particular place I can keep her until we get this whole mess sorted out." The Doctor then softly smiled and added, "Trust me."

Red looked long and hard at his smiling face, which gave her only minimal assurance. She finally nodded in agreement with his idea and said, "OK…let's do it."

* * *

The room inside the TARDIS that the Doctor had taken Red into was the complete opposite of what she had anticipated. What she thought that she would be contained in was a room made entirely of steel from the door to the walls. However, the room looked like an old Victorian bedroom, complete with a fireplace and a bookshelf. It was completely roomy from top to bottom, and – for a second – a feeling of comfort overcame Red, making her momentarily forget about her problem. Unfortunately, just thinking of her problem made her upset again, yet she was more upset with the Doctor.

"Is this some type of joke?" She asked him.

"What? You think I'd really lock you inside a cold, musty dungeon. Not that I have a dungeon. I just…"

"I _need_ to be kept inside somewhere _way_ more restrained than this. You don't understand how dangerous I am."

"I _do_ know, Ruby. I've read your story in Henry's book. I know of the transformations and how you were once able to control them. And now you feel you're losing control because it's been years since you last turned with the curse having held you back. I saw it in your eyes earlier. You're scared, and I understand that. But as long as you're under my care, you _won't_ be treated like an animal."

She was touched by his kindness, but she felt that it was blinding him from the reality of her situation. "But…when I turn…"

The Doctor turned to the double doors of the Victorian room. "These doors might _look_ wooden in design, but they're actually made of a highly durable alloy not of this earth that camouflages its _real _design." He knocked on them, creating a metallic sound to prove his point. "Your wolf side couldn't break them down even if it tried."

Feeling reassured, Red sighed in relief and smiled. "Thank you."

"My pleasure." After his reply, he started to turn to leave, but he was suddenly caught off guard from the kiss she snuck in on his lips. It was a brief kiss – one that the Doctor didn't feel like he needed to worry over – but there was something about it that brought an odd feeling over him. It was as if memories of a different life were flowing back into his mind.

When the kiss ended as quickly as it began, the Doctor just stood and stared bafflingly at Red, who drew concern over his demeanor. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." The Doctor answered, briefly scratching his head like he had some unbearable itch. "I…I have to go and…and…"

"Prove my innocence?" Red helped finish for him.

"Yes. Yes. That. I have to go and do…that. Yes."

His odd behavior continued on his way out of the room as he closed the double doors and locked Red inside. As she stood alone in the comfortable room, she couldn't shake off her concern for the Doctor, wondering what had come over him after the kiss.


	21. Chapter Twenty

**Chapter Twenty: Uncovered Secrets**

"Jeez, Jack!"

"Well, what else was I supposed to do? You had me in quite a bind back there. Had to convince you it was me somehow."

"Yeah, but…'I love you, Emma Swan'? Where did _that_ come from?"

"Through the hundred years I've been here, all I could think about was how great it felt bring around somebody that reminded me of how things used to be in Torchwood. The people I knew…the family I had…the ones I loved."

Listening to Jack as they made their way to the TARDIS, Emma stopped for a moment to look back at him and shake her head. "Jack…I just…I just wanna get back home."

Harkness nodded. "I know. So do I."

She pointed a strict finger at him and added, "But we _will_ be discussing _more_ about this when we get back."

Jack grinned. "Yes, ma'am."

As Jack and Emma neared the TARDIS, the blue box made itself visible again, allowing the two to walk through its doors and into the console room. Stepping into the TARDIS for the first time in a _long_ time, Jack was taken aback from the extensive changes that had been made to it. Gone was the organic "coral" design of the room, replaced by what Jack could only described as the "Pee-Wee's Playhouse Renovation," but he wouldn't dare tell the Doctor that when he saw him again.

"Jack!" He heard Snow shout his name and spotted her at the console platform just in time to see her run up to him and give a warm embrace. "You're back!"

"Was there any doubt I _wouldn't_ return?" Harkness jested before looking back to the console platform to see River and Mulan. "Where's Aurora?"

"She's asleep in one of the bedrooms." River confirmed. "Where's Hook?"

"He's detained," answered Emma.

"What?" Snow remarked with confusion that echoed over to River and Mulan.

"It's a long story," said Jack, "but the important thing now is that we got the compass to get us back home."

Snow smiled in relief. "Great. All we need now is the dust from Cora."

"Yeah, Emma was telling me about that." Jack said. "I think there's another way we can get back to Storybrooke _without_ that dust."

The eyes of every woman in the TARDIS console room grew big on this sudden revelation of Jack's. River was the only one who managed to ask, "How?"

Just as Harkness began to explain, there was screaming that came from outside the console room, calling out Snow's name repeatedly. Everyone immediately rushed out of the room and into another area of the TARDIS that was a comforting Victorian bedroom where Aurora had been sleeping. She sat up in the bed just as the others arrived. Snow sat beside her and softly said, "Hey. I'm here. It's okay. It's okay. It's just another nightmare."

"No…this time…it was different." Aurora said. "There was a little boy. He…He put out the fire. He talked to me."

"A little boy?" Snow questioningly uttered.

"What'd he say?" Emma asked.

"He said…He said his name was Henry."


	22. Chapter Twenty-One

**Chapter Twenty-One: Where There's a Mob…**

There was a knock at the doors to the TARDIS that sounded fierce – the fiercest that the Doctor ever heard come over them. He had been working as usual by the control console when the knocking occurred and was prompted to hurry over to the doors to see who was behind the intense knocking. Before he opened them, he heard a collection of angry shouts outside; it sounded to him like a mob. Slowly and cautiously, he opened the left door and was greeted by the furious face of the same man he encountered outside of Granny's the other day, once again meeting in the same area.

"Where is it?" The man asked.

The Doctor was dumbfounded. "Where's what?"

"That murderous creature you're hiding in this pathetic box of yours!" The man exclaimed, sounding a lot angrier than he looked. Behind him, the Doctor saw a crowd of armed Storybrooke citizens collected as a mob – all of them led by this one man. "We know she's here! And if we have to, we'll barge right in to get to her!"

The man's words only made the Doctor himself angry. Stepping out of the TARDIS and shutting the door behind him, he coldly stared into the eyes of the man and the mob he led. "Listen to me, all of you. That 'creature' you're so terrified of is a scared young woman. She's scared not because of what you'll do to her, but what she'll do to all of you if you go near her."

"All the better reason to _kill_ her while there's still a chance!" The man exclaimed to the collective agreeable shouts of the mob. Turning to them, he said, "We won't cower in fear of this creature any longer! We know who she is. We know where she's hiding. So why is she still alive?"

"It's because of _me_ she's alive!" The Doctor furiously yelled.

"And how many more people have to die because of you, _Doctor_?" The man rhetorically questioned. "Don't think for a second I've forgotten the massacre you and that _thing_ brought to my castle in saving the prince. Because I'm _very _much looking forward to returning the favor right this second."

The man's accusation, delivered in such a threatening tone, only made the Doctor more curious about his identity. "Who are you?"

The man maliciously chuckled. "Let me in…and I'll _show_ you who I _really_ am." His cryptic response only managed to frustrate the Doctor more as he silently retreated back into the TARDIS. The mob leader yelled through the closed doors, "You leave us no choice then, _Doctor_! We're busting our way in whether you like it or not!" He then signaled to one member of his mob to walk up to the TARDIS doors and attempt to bash its doors down with the butt of his gun.

However, before the action could have been done, the mob heard strange noises that could only be connected to the TARDIS, which was beginning to disappear before their very eyes. The moment he saw it vanish, Albert Spencer – formerly King George and currently leader of the mob against Ruby – grinned. _There's no escaping us, Doctor_, he thought as he glared upon the unoccupied space.

* * *

Standing over the control console, the Doctor felt somewhat relieved to have avoided what could have certainly been a full-on attack inside the TARDIS. With just a few flicks of switches and a couple of turns of knobs, the Doctor brought the TARDIS out of its usual spot in front of Granny's Diner and into a more secluded area like the forest beyond the town, careful not to go outside the limit where residents forgot who they were. Once they were in the new location, he breathed with satisfaction.

"They were here for me."

He quickly turned his head as he heard Red's voice, finding her standing at the top of the upper staircase that led to the console platform. She looked heavily nervous in the eyes of the Doctor. "I took care of them," he assured her. "We're safe."

Red shook her head. "Nowhere is safe as long as I'm still alive."

"No, Ruby, listen…"

"They see me as a monster, and I _am_ a monster, John. That's why I need to make sure I don't ever hurt anyone again."

Her words made the Doctor greatly concerned. "W-What're you thinking, Ruby?"

She walked down the staircase and moved in close to him, tears flowing from her eyes. "I love you so much. You're the last person I'd ever want to hurt."

The Doctor stood confused, not quite certain what she was thinking of doing. But he then got an idea once he felt something cold and metal clamp down tightly on his left wrist. Looking down, he found himself handcuffed to the control console, much to his chagrin. "No, no, no! Where the hell did you get handcuffs?"

"I took them from David in case something happened. I know they wouldn't have contained me, but what other choice would I have?"

"There is _always_ a choice, Ruby! Let me out of these! I can take you away from here! I can take you with me to see the stars! I promised you, remember?"

Surprise registered over her face as she realized what he just said. "You…_You_ remember?"

The Doctor realized himself what he said, and it surprised even him, bringing out a laugh and a smile. "I do! I _do_ remember! I remember when we first met! I remember waking up in the forest and seeing you!"

This moment made Red's heart swell but, at the same time, she felt crushed because it happened during the worst situation of her life. "I'm sorry, John," she said while fighting back tears. "I'm sorry." She then rushed away from the console platform and out of the TARDIS, leaving behind the handcuffed Doctor, who frantically shouted for her to come back. Unfortunately, the pleas fell on deaf ears.


	23. Chapter Twenty-Two

**Chapter Twenty-Two: The New Danger**

Jack and River returned to the TARDIS console room, leaving Snow and Emma to talk with Aurora about the dream she had about Henry. River couldn't get her mind off of the bizarre nature of the occurrence. It certainly wasn't coincidence in her mind. It was definitely a form of magic or sorcery that she had yet to figure out, much like all the other magic of that land.

Even Jack had trouble figuring it all out, which seemed to have made him frustrated. "How does she meet someone in a dream who she's never even met in reality?"

"I don't know."

"I-Is it even a dream or is it some type of premonition?"

"I don't know."

"Does this mean we have _another_ way back to Storybrooke?"

His questions only frustrated _her_. "Why the hell are you asking _me_?"

"Because in the hundred years I've been trapped here – because of that damned Weeping Angel – I haven't seen anything like this. You've been here, too…you know just as much of the tricks of the trade…all the weirdness that goes on."

"That doesn't mean I have a clue how Aurora's able to see Henry in her dream any more than you. This is new to me as well, Jack. But the _real_ question we should be focusing on is how you know of a way for us to return to Storybrooke with just the compass."

Jack sighed and shook his head with a chuckle, almost completely forgetting about the said compass that had been sitting in his coat pocket ever since he and Emma left the giant's lair. Pulling the compass out, he explained to River, "This compass has magical capabilities – ones that even the TARDIS is more than qualified of handling. What if we combine the magic of this compass with the technology of the TARDIS to guide us back to Storybrooke?"

"And how do you suppose _that_ will work?"

Harkness shrugged, circling the hexagonal console. "I don't know for sure. _This_ TARDIS is like…it looks so funky…and retro!"

"I like it." River smugly said.

"Well, it makes my plan difficult to put into action. Before it became all of _this_, it was as simple as putting the item right on this console…" He demonstrated by holding the compass close to the control console, "…and _bam_!"

At the moment Jack made the exclamation, the compass suddenly magnetized itself onto the TARDIS control console to Jack's immediate surprise. It was afterward when a massive tremor came over the room, knocking both River and Jack off their feet. As the both of them pulled themselves back up, River heard the all-too-familiar sound of the cloister bell. The distinctive, sonorous, ringing sound made Jack greatly cautious; he hadn't been inside the TARDIS enough times to ever hear it and know what it meant.

"What the hell is going on?" He yelled over the noise.

"Trouble," answered the heavily agitated River Song. "That's what the hell is going on…trouble."


	24. Chapter Twenty-Three

**Chapter Twenty-Three: …There's Trouble**

The handcuffs clanged as the Doctor jiggled his wrists, trying to remember the trick that Harry Houdini had taught him about jiggling handcuffs fast enough to make them move through solid objects. Unfortunately, to the Doctor's realization after hours of attempting the maneuver, Houdini had been using _trick_ handcuffs, which David – being Storybrooke's temporary sheriff – obviously didn't carry with him. The Doctor exhausted himself for hours over nothing, and he was left slumping down beside the control console, his cuffed arm dangling.

_Why do women always feel the need to handcuff me to places? First River, then Amy, and now Ruby. It's getting __real__ annoying._

In recalling the discomforting times, the Doctor was reminded of one specific key to unlocking the handcuffs that he overlooked, and he was disappointed with himself for having done so. Reaching into his coat pocket, he retrieved the sonic screwdriver and connected its tip to the lock. Whereas the Doctor's wrist remained handcuffed, he was no longer bound to the console, enabling him to move freely in operating the controls.

He had to get a fix on Ruby, who was certain to have reached town just as nightfall came. With the full moon out, he also was certain about her being in wolf form; so he operated the TARDIS to center on a description that matched a werewolf. Once it got the fix, he switched on the monitor to show him where Red was. The image he saw on the monitor sent a shiver down his spine and then made his blood boil. Moving at a more frantic speed around the hexagonal console, the Doctor got the TARDIS out of the forest as soon as possible.

* * *

Spencer's mob had turned into a legitimate one with torches and pitchforks as they all cornered the wolf in an alley near the library. Spencer had his revolver trained on the wolf and squeezed the trigger. Before the bullet could have escaped from the revolver, something had knocked against both it and Spencer's hand, causing him to fire upon a nearby gas drum that exploded on impact.

"The next one goes between your eyes!"

All eyes turned to the speaker who made the threat and saw Granny standing atop of the hood of David's squad car. David himself soon pushed through the crowd while met with criticism from the townspeople – some of it very personal:

"Why are you protecting her?"

"We're not sheep, David!"

"We don't need to be led by a shepherd!"

Once he was finally in front of the mob, David yelled to them, "Listen to me! Ruby didn't kill Billy." He then glared to Spencer and said, "_He_ did. He stole her cloak and killed Billy in cold blood to make it look like a wolf all to get you to think I wasn't leading this town as I should." There came a loud growl from behind David, scaring the townsfolk into advancing on the wolf until David stopped them once again. "Hold up! Somebody already died because of what Spencer has done. Let's not spill more blood. She won't hurt…"

He was soon silenced by the sound of the TARDIS approaching. All eyes turned to the spot that it was rematerializing in, watching the familiar shape of the police box separate them from the wolf as it turned solid in a matter of seconds. The door immediately flew open and the Doctor stepped out. He first looked to his left, seeing David, Spencer, Granny, and the mob all looking upon him with mixed emotions – only David and Granny were pleased while Spencer and the mob appeared furious of his arrival. Then he looked to his right after hearing the growls of the wolf…of Ruby.

The Doctor began to approach her, prompting her to recede further into the shadows. As he slowly took another step, David called to him: "Doctor!" He looked back in time to see David toss Ruby's red hood over to him. Catching the hood in his hands, the Doctor nodded his thanks to David and returned to his approach on Ruby.

The closer he got to her, the more she growled viciously at him. He raised a calm, steady hand, showing how fearless he was of her. "It's alright. It's alright, Red. It's me…John. You helped me to remember who I was…when we were together in the old land…when we were married and living happily. I remember who I was during the curse. We were going to be together…but then I left…and I forgot." Ruby's growling had ceased as if she was listening to the Doctor's every word. "You're all that I have left, Red. Amy and Rory are gone…River's…" He stopped, choking on his words while fighting tears. "Just…please…come back to me."

The Doctor's hand was close enough to touch her head, and she allowed it to once she stepped closer to the Doctor. He rubbed his fingers through the black fur upon her head and neck while placing the cloak over her wolf form. Within seconds, the wolf before him had vanished – replaced by the beautiful young woman he fell in love with. Her human eyes connected with his and delight overtook her face. "John!" They embraced each other for what seemed like an eternity – lovers finally reunited both physically and mentally. "You saved me."

"No…you saved yourself." The Doctor whispered back to her. "I just reminded you of what you already knew."

Their peaceful moment was abruptly disrupted as soon as they heard shouting from the nearby crowd. Rushing to them, they found David tending to a fallen Granny and Spencer missing from the group.

"What happened?" The Doctor questioned.

"Spencer's gone." David informed him.

"Go. I'll be alright." Granny urged them.

"I'm not leaving you here alone." Ruby told her.

"I'll be just fine now that I know _you're_ alright." Granny reassured. "Now go."

Accepting Granny's assurance, the Doctor, David, and Ruby rushed to the squad car and took off to find Spencer.

* * *

With Ruby's expert tracking skills, the trio was able to find Spencer much sooner than anticipated. They found him at a beach, standing by a fire. As soon as he was in hearing range of her, Ruby mockingly asked him, "You think you can hide from a wolf?"

"I wasn't trying to hide." Spencer remarked.

The Doctor nodded satisfyingly as he, Ruby, and David approached. "Good. That'll make your arrest much easier."

"Arrest for what?" Spencer uttered. "Making a point?"

"You killed an innocent man." David said.

"He was a mouse." Spencer coldly retorted.

"He was better than you'll ever be!" Ruby angrily yelled.

"Make this easier on yourself, _Your Highness_," suggested the Doctor, addressing his royal title with as much scorn as he showed him earlier. "There's nowhere else to escape in Storybrooke."

Spencer chuckled. "You fool. Escape isn't my plan this time."

"Then what is? Clearly you have one or else we wouldn't have chased you all this way." The Doctor deduced.

Spencer slowly turned and faced them. The Doctor noticed how he was concealing something beneath his dark trench coat, believing it to be a gun. However, Spencer soon revealed the item in his possession: **Jefferson's hat**. As quickly as he pulled it out of his coat, he threw it into the fire to the horror of the Doctor, Ruby, and especially David, who pushed Spencer aside to reach the hat. Unfortunately, the fire made it unreachable for David.

"It doesn't matter how much fairy dust you gather…or how much you rally the town behind you…your family's gone." Spencer then viciously turned to the Doctor and Ruby and added, "Your friends are gone."

Seeing the smug look on his face as he made that wicked declaration, the Doctor wanted to punch Spencer square in his jaw, even though it was completely against his character. Of course, that opportunity went to David instead, as he had done the deed without the Doctor (or Spencer, for that matter) seeing it come. Unfortunately, matters became more extreme as soon as David drew his gun and pointed it at Spencer's head.

"David! No! Don't do it!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Don't sink to his level! You're better than him!"

Spencer laughing in David's face didn't make the situation any calmer than the Doctor hoped. "I told you," he whispered to David, "you should've killed me when you had the chance."

The Doctor and Ruby both watched nervously as the gun in David's hand shook beneath his grip. After much hesitation, he allowed it to go limp in his hand, which came as a relief to Ruby and the Doctor. David turned his gaze to the fire, watching with teary eyes as the hat succumbed to its fiery fate and vanished into the ashes.


	25. Chapter Twenty-Four

**Chapter Twenty-Four: The New Path**

The TARDIS traveled faster than the speed of light through the time vortex, lurching violently. Its inhabitants were feeling the effects of the chaotic journey through the misty maelstrom. Emma, Snow, Aurora, and Mulan hurried back into the console room, seeing Jack try his best to maintain balance while River worked feverishly at the controls. The cloister bell continued to sound all over them, making the scene appear more insane than Snow, Emma, Aurora, and Mulan already imagined it to be.

"What is going on?" Snow asked.

"And what the hell is that sound?" Emma inquired.

"Long story short – Jack's shortcut to Storybrooke is a _bad_ idea!" River shouted.

Emma saw the compass magnetized to the TARDIS control console; the needle on it spun insanely. "Well, let's just remove the compass and end this wild ride," she suggested, running to the console and attempting to remove the compass from it. Unfortunately, the action did more harm than good as a jolt of electricity shot at her fingertips. The force of the jolt was more powerful than it appeared, sending Emma falling backwards over the rail and off the platform.

"Emma!" Snow cried, fighting the quakes to rush to her daughter's aid.

Seeing Emma lying beneath the platform in an unconscious state, Jack became furious with himself for letting the chaos that had befallen the TARDIS happen. He also attempted to reach Emma, but before he could take a step, another brutal tremor shook the TARDIS and sent Jack off his feet. He slammed his head against the edge of the control console, fracturing his skull and dying in the process. Before dying, Harkness saw a bright light engulf him and everything else in the room. At first, he believed that he finally reached the limit of his immortality and officially died there and then; of course, he was only kidding himself with that belief as he knew he would be back to the land of the living in a matter of minutes.

But what _was_ that light? And where did it come from?

* * *

**Storybrooke**

"How's David dealing with this?" The Doctor asked, standing beside the TARDIS control console with Ruby.

"He's…doubtful that we'll ever find another way to get Emma and Mary Margaret back, but I'm keeping him optimistic."

"What did you tell him?"

"The truth – that you'll find another way and save everyone…like you always do." She wrapped her arms around him, staring passionately into his eyes and smiling. "I'm so glad to have you back."

"It's good to _be_ back. After losing Amy, Rory, and River, I didn't think I'd ever be the same again. But then you…you helped me to remember what I still have…here in Storybrooke. I don't have to run and hide anymore. I can be 'John Smith' and not have any Daleks, Cybermen, or Weeping Angels chasing after me and putting the people I care about in danger. This can be my life now – here in this little town with you."

Ruby was beyond delighted to hear him tell her that. She shared a long, passionate kiss with him. When she finally pulled herself away, she again looked into his eyes and whispered, "I've been waiting so long for you to come back. Now you're finally here and…t-there's so much I want us to do…so much we can catch up on…but you know what I _really_ want to do right now?"

"What's that?"

He then saw her remove her red robe and his eyes grew wide, thinking she must've wanted to catch up on some _very_ lonely nights. But his "dirty" mind was soon washed when she enthusiastically told him, "Run!"

The Doctor looked around in fear. "From what?"

"No, silly. I mean _I'm_ going to run. You helped me regain control. And seeing there are only a few hours of Wolfstime left, I'm going to take advantage of it." She ran to the TARDIS door and, before departing, she looked back once more at him and said, "I'll return, my love."

"I'll be here," answered the love-struck Doctor, who watched her energetically exit from the TARDIS, having left the door open on her departure. It was only seconds before he heard a wolf call right outside, knowing exactly _who_ it was.

Momentarily alone in the TARDIS, the Doctor let out a happy sigh. For the first in what felt to him like a _long_ time, he was at peace. However, he still felt great remorse for the people he had lost – the family that he had there in the TARDIS. Losing Amy and Rory was the hardest thing he had ever been through, and losing River was even worst. He wasn't sure whether she was alive or dead – the latter being something that had boggled his mind, considering that she had yet to meet her fate in "The Library." But it was as he had always said, _Time can be rewritten_, and he strongly felt like it had been rewritten the moment she vanished from the TARDIS. What did that mean for the past? Who was the one that restored the people "saved" in the Library? It was supposed to have been him, but – with River gone – does that mean _he_ made the sacrifice after all?

It was a matter that he felt needed to be addressed at a later time. From that moment on, all he wanted was to continue helping the people of Storybrooke and get back to his relationship with Ruby. But first he had to get something to eat, which was what his growling stomach seemed to be reminding him to do that very moment. He stepped down from the console platform and headed for the open door. However, just as he neared the door…

_SLAM!_

To the Doctor's immediate shock, the door went shut entirely on its own. He then heard the cloister bell sound just before he heard the sound of a lever being cranked. Spinning around to face the console again, he saw the controls being operated on their own. "No…No…NO!" He rushed back to the console platform and tried to keep the controls from self-operating any further, fighting with whatever invisible force that was controlling them. Unfortunately, resistance was futile in this situation, and the Doctor watched helplessly as the TARDIS began to make its departure.

"NO! Where are you going?" He yelled to the TARDIS itself. "Where are you taking us? I don't want to leave! I want to stay! Do you hear me? I want to stay! Please! Don't take me away from here!"

But his cries were useless. The TARDIS had already dematerialized from its usual spot in front of Granny's Diner.

* * *

When Ruby returned to the diner location just as the sun began to rise, she was pleased to have seen the TARDIS still in the same place it was before she left for her run. She approached it in her wolf form but, once she got close to the door, she willingly transformed back into her normal human form. Opening the TARDIS door, she was suddenly sent reeling back from the massive cloud of smoke that seeped out from the police box and caused her to cough briefly.

Something was wrong.

"John?" She cried while stepping into the smoke, covering her nose and mouth as she entered. "John, are you alright?" She was blinded from the mist. She could still make out the familiar structure of the console room in a few places, but the console platform was otherwise shrouded by the smoke. She could see flames sprouting up from the console, which made her even more concerned. "John!"

It was then she felt a hand clamp down on her right arm, prompting her to shriek with fear. Shortly thereafter, she heard a familiar voice tell her, "It's okay! It's okay! It's me!"

She turned to the speaker and discovered him to be Captain Jack Harkness. "Jack? You came back!"

"I'm going to vent out the smoke," said another voice that sounded just as familiar, only Ruby had not heard it in a _very_ long time.

A loud humming noise was soon heard all around the room and all of the smoke quickly cleared, revealing a room that was ravaged by fire. The majestic console room had become something akin to hell from the scorched sections that Ruby wasn't able to make out when the smoke shrouded everything. She saw River Song standing beside the demolished control console, putting out the fire Ruby noticed earlier with an alien-looking extinguisher.

"River?"

Hearing Ruby utter her name, River looked her way and smiled through her exhaustion. "Red!" She glanced over to Jack and said, "It worked! We made it back to Storybrooke!"

"Yeah, but without Emma and Snow." Harkness hastily contradicted. "And where the hell are Mulan and Aurora also? They've all just…vanished."

"Where is John?" Ruby asked the both of them.

It took seconds for Jack and River to realize Ruby was referring to the Doctor.

"Y-You mean…he's not here?" Jack asked her.

"Where did you last see him?" River inquired.

"Just right here. Where we're standing right now. I left him and the TARDIS here hours ago."

River's face grew white. "Oh, no."

Seeing her look of terror, Jack asked, "What's wrong?"

"Our plan worked all too well, Jack." River answered. "The moment we re-entered into this dimension of space and time in _this _TARDIS, we canceled out the other TARDIS – the Doctor's TARDIS."

Harkness did his best to understand. "Well…what does that mean?"

River's lips quivered as she clarified: "It means the Doctor's no longer in Storybrooke."

This news brought Ruby to tears. Her knees buckled and she dropped to the floor. Jack immediately comforted her, crouching down at her side to give her a shoulder to cry on. He looked despondently towards River, who was on the verge of tears herself.

* * *

**Victorian England**

A single snowflake had fallen on the cheek of Emma Swan; its cold texture began to get her out of her unconsciousness, but with a little help from Snow, who repeatedly said to her, "Emma, wake up." Her eyes slowly opened and she discovered how they were no longer inside the TARDIS but outside in a snowy night atmosphere.

"Where are we?" Emma asked her mother.

"We'll have to figure that out later," Snow said, "but right now I need you to stand up, if you can."

"Why? What's going…?"

After carefully sitting up, Emma's eyes grew large on the bizarre form she suddenly spotted right behind Snow. Standing over them both with a centuries-old gun aimed right at them was a being with a large, bulbous head, a short stocky body that was donned in clothing reminiscent of an English butler, light brown skin, and three digits on both hands. Due to the size of his hand and digits of his fingers, the gun he held was fashioned to suit his grip.

In a gruff tone, he warned them, "Don't move…Moonites!"


	26. Chapter Twenty-Five

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Friends in Need**

Sontaran Commander Strax had taken Emma and Snow directly to the home of Madame Vastra for further investigation, believing the two women to have been warriors from the Moon. No matter how many times Emma and Snow tried to convince the bizarre, potato-headed character that they weren't from the Moon, Strax had none of it. Upon arriving at Vastra's home in a horse-pulled carriage, Strax forced Emma and Snow to the front door, which was soon answered by a young English brunette named Jenny, who seemed less than pleased to see Strax.

"What is it this time?" She asked the Sontaran.

"I have found proof of Moonites!" Strax exclaimed. "These two males had fallen from above. And where else could they have fallen other than the sky…" After a long, awkward pause, he then added, "…where the _Moon_ is."

Jenny sighed, shaking her head. "First of all, these two _aren't_ male – they are _female_." That info took Strax by surprise as he glanced left and right at Emma and Snow. "Second, and for the _last_ time, there are _no_ 'Moonites!'"

"Finally, someone here with sense," whispered Emma.

"But they _fell_ from the sky!" Strax furiously exclaimed. "I saw it with my own two, fully-functional eyes!"

Following on Strax's claim, Jenny curiously glanced at Emma and Snow. "I'll alert Vastra of the situation and we'll keep an eye on them. In the meantime, _you_ should be keeping an eye on the Doctor."

Emma and Snow's faces lit up with the mentioning of their friend. "Wait a minute," Emma said, "The Doctor's _here_?"

Reacting suspiciously to Emma's knowledge of the Doctor, Strax and Jenny exchanged cautious glances. "How do you know of the Doctor?" Jenny inquired.

"They are spies!" Strax warned. "We should obliterate them _immediately_!"

Snow feared a possible attack from the two strangers and quickly spoke up: "Wait! We're friends of the Doctor. We met him back in our home – a town called Storybrooke. He's been helping us."

"The Doctor has not helped a soul for quite some time now."

The voice had spoken directly behind Jenny. Everyone looked to see a woman dressed in black and wearing a hat with a dark veil that obscured her face. Of course, Emma and Snow could see a small hint of the woman's face, discovering how _green_ it looked beyond the veil. After a brief moment, they realized the mysterious woman had to be the "Madame Vastra" Strax intended to take them to.

"If you _really_ knew of the Doctor, you would know that for a fact." Vastra looked long and hard at Emma and Snow before she focused on Jenny. "Doctor Simeon is on the move again. Something about the snow interests him – snow that comes from a cloudless sky. It's best to corner him for questioning while he's still out in the open"

Jenny nodded in agreement with Vastra's plan of action and then returned her focus back on Emma and Snow. "What about these two? They know about the Doctor. What shall we do with them?"

Vastra's sparkling blue eyes again centered on Snow and Emma through her dark veil, silently contemplating an appropriate solution to the complex problem that they had brought with them.

* * *

"If I were you two, I'd consider praying for a quick and easy death while you wait for us to return." Strax suggested as he closed and locked the door to the bedroom that Snow and Emma had been placed in – against their will.

Emma slammed her fist against the door in anger and frustration. "Damn! Bet if Mr. Potato Head didn't have his ray gun with him, then it'd be a fair fight! You think they're really gonna kill us?"

"No," said Snow, who had looked throughout the bedroom.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because we're important to them – we know about the Doctor."

"Yeah, speaking of which, some help _he_ turned out to be. Why the hell would he leave Storybrooke for Victorian England? He's supposed to be helping Henry and David get us back home. And he just bails?"

Snow stopped her search to focus on her daughter's discouragement. "He didn't bail on them, Emma. There has to be a reasonable explanation for his presence here. Maybe it's not the same Doctor. Maybe it's a Doctor from the past or the future."

Emma seemed heavily intrigued by that possibility. "You mean…he could've already found a way to get us back?"

Snow smiled and nodded. "Why else would he have left? He accomplished his mission and moved on to save _more_ lives."

"Well, we need to find him and find out _how _he'll rescue us." Her heightened expectations suddenly crashed as she was reminded of their current dilemma. "But those freaks aren't gonna let us find him when they get back."

"We won't be here when they do." Snow said before going to a nearby chair, picking it up, and – with all her strength – shattering the bedroom window with it. Emma was shocked from her mother's sudden action, which she appeared to have planned all along after surveying the bedroom. She carefully cleared the broken glass from the window frame and turned to Emma. With a sense of direction, she said, "We've got only a two-story climb down. Help me separate the bed sheets and tie them together."


	27. Chapter Twenty-Six

**Chapter Twenty-Six: The Man from the Clouds**

Emma knew that it was risky venturing out into a city that neither she nor Snow knew anything about. They wandered the streets, attracting many odd stares from the people around them, due mostly to their contemporary clothing. To add on to their troubles, they often found themselves in the same area as before, having traveled in a complete circle. All of the street corners looked the same to them; nothing distinctive to show that they were headed in the right direction. Of course, they didn't know what direction they were going in to begin with.

After hours of wandering, Emma and Snow stopped in the middle of one empty street corner. "We're never gonna find him by just walking around in circles," said an exhausted Emma. "Maybe it was a better idea sticking with Potato Head and the Lizard Lady?"

As Snow was about to respond to her unwise suggestion, she quickly spotted something odd. There was a woman in a nearby park that had leaped into the air, trying to grab at something; but Snow saw nothing there for the woman to grab. The woman fell onto the snow-covered ground; she got back up on her feet in frustration. While brushing the snow off of her long red dress, she noticed Snow and Emma near her and said, "Oy! You two!" With the woman calling to them, Emma had then noticed her as well. "Since you're just standing there, would you mind giving me a boost?"

Emma and Snow looked to each other in confusion, but they felt obligated in assisting the woman since they were the only ones on the street to help. Moving past the gates and into the park, the first thing that Emma and Snow had noticed was how much shorter the woman looked compared to them; it was no wonder a boost was necessary for her. Snow and Emma each cupped their hands to give the woman something to step onto to give her extra height, but the idea soon deemed discomforting once they felt the snow underneath her boots freeze their hands.

"Ah, god! That's cold!" Emma voiced her discomfort.

"May I ask what it is you're…?" Snow stopped as soon as she heard a series of metallic clicks.

The woman stepped off their cupped hands as she brought down what appeared to have been a steel ladder. Shocked by this, Emma and Snow looked up to see where it had come from, but they only saw the thin air. It was as if the ladder was connected to the thin air itself. The woman noted their surprise and smiled. "I had the same look as the both of you when I saw _him_ go up there a little while ago."

"Him?" Emma questioned.

"The Doctor." The woman answered.

Again, Emma and Snow looked to each other. Surprise had been added onto surprise within seconds apart. Snow and Emma inadvertently accomplished their mission and all with the help of the woman in the red dress just by requesting _their_ help.

A few moments later, after climbing the ladder, the three women found themselves walking up a spiral staircase that extended far out into the heavens. During their trek up the staircase, the woman swiftly told Emma and Snow, "Name's Clara. What're your names?"

Emma was caught off guard by her sudden question. "E-Emma and Snow."

Clara grinned. "Which of you is Snow?" When she saw Snow hesitantly point to herself, Clara nodded and chuckled. "Funny thing it is."

"What's that?" Snow asked.

"Because _snow_ is the reason I'm going up to see this 'Doctor' fellow. Earlier, while I was working, I found this snowman in the middle of an alley. It looked peculiar, but what was _really_ peculiar about it was that no one had made it. Then I find myself surrounded by _living_ snowmen – all trying to eat me."

"Man-eating snowmen?" Emma uttered in surprise.

Clara nodded. "I wouldn't have survived if it hadn't been for the Doctor."

Clara's story amused Emma and Snow and even increased their curiosity of how and why the Doctor ended up in Victorian England. They figured that they would get their answers as soon as they reached the apex of the spiral staircase. As the three women continued to climb it, they each wondered how such a structure could exist without anything to keep it anchored down or anything to keep it up. Once they reached the clouds, Emma had a sense of déjà vu with her recent experience at the lair of the giant; the only difference being that there was not a giant's lair above these clouds but a familiar police box – the Doctor's TARDIS.

Emma, Snow, and Clara remained extremely cautious as they stepped off the staircase and onto the cloud cover that the TARDIS had been situated on. As her feet felt like they walked upon solid ground, Snow couldn't help but to ask out loud, "How did he manage all of this?"

"You ask that about a guy who lives in a blue box?" Emma said with a grin.

Snow noted her inquiry with a nod. "You've got a point."

The women approached the TARDIS. Clara did so with more caution than Emma and Snow had, not knowing what to expect from a man who live on the clouds. Even when she watched as Emma knocked on the door of the blue box, she grew so wary of what came out of the box that she dodged out of sight, hiding herself to the right side of the TARDIS. Her actions puzzled Emma and Snow; before either of them could question why she hid, the door to the TARDIS opened.

When the Doctor first stuck his head out through the open door, his face showed confusion. How often was it when he received a knock at the door of a strange blue box that sat on a cloud miles above the earth? But his face quickly dropped into shock once he realized who the two people standing before him were.

"Emma? Snow?"

Snow could no longer restrain herself from rushing up to him and giving him an enormous hug. Shock continued to register on the Doctor's face as he kept his eyes on Emma, who could only put on a disapproving smile. When he closed his eyes to take in what was happening, Emma looked to Clara, who seemed surprised that Emma and Snow knew the Doctor very well. Emma gestured for Clara to come out of hiding, but the woman in red had refused, shaking her head.

Snow and the Doctor finished their embrace, prompting Emma to return her focus on them and away from the shadowed Clara. "How…How did you both escape from the fairy tale world?" The Doctor inquired.

"We don't know." Snow answered. "That's what we're hoping you can tell _us_."

"And also why _you _left Storybrooke." Emma coldly added.

Noticing the displeased look on Emma's face and the tone of her voice made the Doctor feel guilty. "Let's all step inside…and talk."

Emma and Snow did as he recommended and stepped into the TARDIS. Immediately after she heard the TARDIS door close, Clara moved away from the blue box and headed back down the spiral staircase, letting the mystery of "The Doctor" remain as one for now.


	28. Chapter Twenty-Seven

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Lost Hope**

"Love what you've done with the place."

Emma eyed the new design of the TARDIS's console room. Both she and Snow were taken aback from the extensive changes, which seemed so sudden to them, considering it was not very long ago when they both stepped foot in the TARDIS for the first time ever. The new "theme" of the console room featured aqua lighting and a time rotor, blue Gallifreyan markings on the ceiling and above the time rotor, hexagonal roundels on the lower console level, and futuristic markings on the top level. Several tiny lights went around the walls of the room in a straight line, flashing sections at a time. The console had two screens and what seemed to be a radar on one face. To Emma and Snow, it was much darker than its previous theme.

"Matches perfectly with the mood." The Doctor said.

"What mood?" Emma asked.

"The mood I found myself in when I was kicked out of Storybrooke." The Doctor clarified, surprising both Emma and Snow.

"Kicked out?" Snow focused on those two words from his statement. "Who kicked you out?"

"Don't tell me it was Regina." Emma said.

The Doctor sulked. "No…it wasn't a who, but a what. The curse that surrounds the town of Storybrooke is more overwhelming than I'd imagined. For one moment, I was happy – my memories of everyone and everything I went through in the FTL had returned, all thanks to Ruby. But, like everything else in my miserable life, I had that happiness ripped apart from me. I was rejected from Storybrooke by the very thing that brought me there from the start. I've been away for months, days, _years_…tried everything in my power to return, yet every attempt has been futile. I can no longer go back."

"Oh, don't give me that defeated crap." Emma demanded. "You're the Doctor. Doctor who – I don't know, nor do I really give a damn. I just know that you're the guy who can do _anything_, which includes getting us back home."

"I _can't_, Emma. Don't you understand?" The Doctor retorted. "I've tried _everything_. There's no point in trying anymore."

Emma bit down on her lower lip in frustration. "So you're saying that there's no way for us to get back home now? All this fancy gadgetry you got here isn't enough to do the job. Is that what you're sayin'?"

The Doctor shook his head, having no response. Seeing how disappointed he was, Snow stepped in with a much gentler approach than Emma. "We have to keep hope that there's a solution. We _can't_ give up on hope, Doctor."

"Hope." The Doctor uttered with a sarcastic chuckle. "If there was ever such a thing, do you think Amy, Rory, River, or Jack would all still be alive right now?"

"Jack and River _are_ still alive, Doctor." Snow notified him. "We were separated from them, but if Emma and I are alive here and now, then they've certainly got to be somewhere else."

"If they are, then they're safer being as far away from me as possible." The Doctor said. "I'm a danger to everyone who travels with me – which is why I'm taking the both of you somewhere else than Victorian England." He began operating the TARDIS controls. "Where do you want to go? Anywhere you want, as long as I'm not there with you. Whatever time you prefer. Past, present, or future?"

Snow calmly placed her hands on his as he was just about to pull the lever that dematerialize the TARDIS. He looked to her, finding himself staring deep in her blue eyes and hopeful face. "We want to go home, Doctor," she told him. "And we want _you_ to come with us."

The Doctor sighed in despair. "I _can't_ take you back, Snow. And even if I could, I don't think staying with you would be in the best interest of you, your daughter, or anyone else in that town."

Emma grew more and more frustrated with the Doctor's defeatist attitude with each refusal he made. "What the hell has happened to you? You are _not_ the same guy I saw before I was sucked away from Storybrooke, so ready to help others and not ask for anything in return." She noted his attire, which went with the current time they were in. "Look at you. I almost didn't even recognize you when you opened the door. You've changed – and I'm not sure if it's for the better or not."

Snow listened to Emma's words and noticed how they cut like a knife to the Doctor, who merely stood and looked at Emma with cold, lifeless eyes. Although Emma was harsh in her address, Snow knew that her daughter had spoken the truth. Much had changed in and out of the Doctor. The new design of the console room was enough of a clue for Snow to determine how much so. Part of her was glad that Emma had spoken up to the Doctor, hoping her words would snap him out of his funk. Unfortunately, all the Doctor could do was to continue moping.

In a dejected tone, he told the two women, "You're welcome to stay here for a while. But, eventually, you'll have to decide on where and when you want to start a new home. Because as much as it pains me to tell you this, you both no longer have one to go back to." As he uttered those words, he had flashbacked to the time after the Time War – a time when he had the same dilemma. It was the fact that he couldn't help Emma and Snow any more than himself at the time he lost Gallifrey that hurt him the most. Yet at the same time – and this was the scariest part to him – he didn't care.


	29. Chapter Twenty-Eight

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Back in the Game**

For the entire twenty-four hours Emma and Snow spent in the TARDIS with the brooding Doctor, things were extremely difficult. With the exception of Emma and Snow conversing with each other every once in a while, silence had befallen over much of the alien spacecraft. The next day, when Emma and Snow went to the console room to see what ruminating activity the Doctor involved himself in, they were surprised to discover that he was not there.

"Where did he go?" Emma questioned.

Snow went over to a chair that was situated beside what looked to her like an oversized computer keyboard and spotted an opened book sitting there. It had been placed face down on the chair, bookmarking a section that had been read or unread. "He left his book open here. Maybe there was an emergency?"

Emma snickered over the idea. "From the way he's been acting lately, I doubt there was any emergency outside of this blue box."

"We should check on him, Emma. I know that he's been stubborn, but he's _still_ our friend."

Emma was hesitant to follow with her mother's idea, but she admitted to the purpose of it. "Yeah, you're right. Plus, he's the only one who knows how to fly this damned thing."

* * *

It was an hour past sunset when Emma and Snow emerged from the TARDIS and down the spiral staircase. Luckily, no one was around to see them climb down the ladder that came from the invisible force field that obscured the staircase; the last thing they needed was to attract attention as they went in search for the Doctor. Learning their lesson from the last time they ventured through the city, Snow concocted a method to prevent them from getting lost again. With a stick of rose red lipstick, she drew a small "X" on every brick wall they passed within a few blocks from each other. The method proved successful when they came upon the red "X" that she drew and knew that they needed to backtrack. They even braved asking around for a man who fitted the Doctor's description; some people provided little information and others merely avoided them, not wishing to be bothered by two women who dressed as if they were insane – which they probably were for going out to look for one man with two hearts.

Matters became even more complicated when Emma and Snow ran into a familiar character with a potato-shaped head and brandishing a ray gun. "Ah! We meet again, Moonites!" Strax immediately aimed his ray gun at them. "Do not think about escaping again or you _will_ suffer my immense firepower!"

Just like they had done when they first encountered Strax, Emma and Snow raised their hands and allowed the Sontaran commander to take them as captives. They were brought to an alley where Madame Vastra and Jenny had been staking out, keeping watch over a gated mansion across the street. As soon as Strax approached them, Jenny looked to him and said in a whisper, "Where were you? We thought you'd gotten lost."

"I _never_ lose my sense of direction, especially not in a pathetic human wasteland like the one we stand in now." Strax retorted. "I had finished checking on Sherlock…I mean, the Doctor, when I had spotted these two moving about, clearly planning some sort of attack. I saw the short-haired _boy_ making strange markings on the walls. It is an obvious strategy meant for determining which sectors to strike once their reinforcements have landed! We should kill them now to prevent war on this planet!"

After listening to Strax's long, winded statement, Emma merely gawked at him and rhetorically asked, "Seriously, are you for real?"

Doing her best to ignore Strax, Snow addressed Vastra, whose scaly green face Emma and Snow had seen clearly for the first time. To them, it was beautiful yet unsettling all at once. "We were just looking for the Doctor. He left the TARDIS and we got…"

"You've been inside the TARDIS?" Vastra inquired in surprise.

"Yes. The Doctor invited us in." Snow said.

"For questioning, no doubt." Strax deduced.

Emma glared at the alien. "Actually, _we_ were questioning _him_. Look, we don't come from the moon or wherever weird place you people think we do. We're from the future. We don't know how exactly we got here in Victorian England, but we know for a fact that the Doctor does – even though he's not willing to admit it at the moment. All we're looking is for help."

Vastra carefully noted Emma's words. "A woman came to us earlier today looking for the very same thing, and we put her in a difficult test to determine how worthy she was to have the Doctor's help. One word was all she had to give, and it was that word that determined her fate."

"What was the word?" Snow curiously asked.

"Pond." Vastra saw Emma and Snow's faces light up on the word, just as she imagined the Doctor's to have done when he first heard it. "Judging from your expressions, you know the significance to that word in the Doctor's life. Unfortunately, it's not the 'Pond' you imagined it to be. It's a frozen pond behind that house there." She pointed to the mansion that she and Jenny had kept watch on. "That is why the Doctor left the TARDIS. He is investigating…he is helping."

Emma smiled. "So he _is_ back in the game."

"You both must be very close to the Doctor for him just to bring you into his TARDIS." Vastra said. "Perhaps there is truth in your words. But whatever engagements you have with the Doctor must wait for now."

Snow understandingly nodded. "Agreed. Emma and I will help in any way we can – whether the Doctor likes it or not."

While the others were conversing, Jenny had continued to keep a lookout from the corner. She then heard and spotted a black carriage arriving at the mansion and alerted the others. "Someone's coming." Everyone joined her in looking past the corner, seeing the carriage as well.

Strax spotted the initials "G" and "I" on the side of the carriage. "It's the human male from the institute. What's he doing here? I suggest we melt his brain using projectile acid vision then interrogate him." His unusual plan was met with confusing stares from the women, prompting him to correct himself. "Other way round."

Emma and Snow saw the man in question step out of the carriage; he had such a morbid expression that it was difficult to determine what emotion he displayed. "That guy would give even Gold the creeps," said Emma, whose words confused Strax.

"Gold minerals are capable of intimidation in your future world?" The Sontaran puzzlingly asked.

Emma's face scrunched up in misperception. "What? No, Gold is…you know what, never mind. I'll explain later."

While watching the man walk amongst the mansion's premises, Snow recalled a name Vastra mentioned on their first encounter. "Is that the 'Doctor Simeon' guy you've been following?"

Vastra slightly nodded. "Yes. And Strax is right to wonder about his presence here. What interest does he have in Captain Latimer's home this time?"

They continued to watch Simeon stand on the mansion grounds until the most bizarre thing occurred. Snowmen suddenly began to sprout up from the ground, which lacked a proper amount of snow for them to sprout from. After at least a dozen snowmen emerged from the mansion grounds, they noticed how Simeon had vanished – obscured by the very snowmen he didn't seem to fear.

After seeing all the snowmen emerge and surround the house, a startled Emma asked Vastra, "Is…Is that our cue to make a move?"

"Indeed it is." Vastra confirmed before she, Jenny, Strax, Emma, and Snow stepped out of alley and moved cautiously towards the mansion.


	30. Chapter Twenty-Nine

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Cold Invasion**

As simple as it was getting into Captain Latimer's home, it was not as simple keeping one of the residents – his maid – calm enough to explain the situation. As soon as she got one look at both Vastra and Strax, she fainted. They immediately found the Doctor at the scene with Latimer's two children and Clara, who looked strikingly different from the last time Emma and Snow had seen her, appearing more proper and conservative there and then. Captain Latimer seemed perturbed more from the fact that the Doctor had introduced himself as Clara's "gentleman friend" than the group of living snowmen outside his house.

"What're you two doing here?" The Doctor asked upon noticing Emma and Snow.

"You disappeared without telling us where you went." Snow responded. "Of course we would go out and look for you."

"Yes, but in times like these, it would've been best just to stay where you were." The Doctor retorted.

"Well, how were _we_ supposed to know there'd be live snowmen attacking you?" Snow defensively asked.

After listening to the two bicker like an old married couple, Emma quickly spoke up: "Alright! Both of you _chill out_!" Her statement garnered some awkward stares from everyone. "Sorry. Poor choice of words."

"Sir, one grenade is all that is needed to blow these 'snowmen' to smithereens." Strax suggested.

The Sontaran's suggestion only frustrated the Doctor. "No, Strax, no! They're snow! They're _already_ smithereens!" He then looked to Clara and said, "See, Clara? My friends again."

"Who's Clara?" Latimer inquired, seeming both confused and aggravated over all that was happening in his home.

"Your current governess is in reality a barmaid called Clara." The Doctor's abrasive response to Latimer's inquiry only made the issue between the captain and Clara more complicated.

"THAT'S THE WAY TO DO IT!"

The old, creaky voice had spoken loudly from the top of the stairs. Everyone turned to see what looked like a living ice sculpture to a horrified Emma and Snow emerge from upstairs and stiffly make her way towards them. "What the hell is _that_?" Emma questioned, having already been spooked by living snowmen, a lizard woman, and a potato-headed man for the two days she had been there.

"Captain Latimer's _former_ governess, now in the form of an ice sculpture." The Doctor explained to Emma and presumably Latimer himself, who stared upon the "Ice Governess" with the same look of horror as Snow and Emma. "Jenny, what have you got?"

Jenny showed an alien device that she pulled out; it looked like a high-tech grenade to Emma, who thought that someone had finally taken Strax's suggestion of using grenades seriously. However, when she threw the grenade at the staircase that the Ice Governess descended on, the weapon was revealed to have been some type of force field generator that blocked the creature's path to them.

"Nice." Snow uttered in approval.

"Sir, this room!" Strax alerted the group, standing in the doorway of a room that he stated the strategic advantages of afterward. His words sounded so complex that Emma wondered why he could not have just said, "It's well fortified."

Everyone rushed into the room except for Snow and the Doctor, who ascended the staircase halfway and aimed his sonic screwdriver at the Ice Governess as she continued pounding at the force field blocking her. Snow approached the Doctor with a smile and voiced her satisfaction of his engagement in the situation: "Nice seeing you back in the swing of things, Doc."

"I'm not in the 'swing of things,' Snow – who ever says that anymore?" He remarked. "I'm under attack."

"Admit it – you love every moment of this."

He aimed his sonic screwdriver her way with an intense glare that slowly morphed into a satisfied smile. "Shut up." Snow refrained from laughing in the midst of their perilous situation while she and the Doctor rushed into the room that turned out to be Latimer's study where everyone else had been hiding – or, in Latimer's case, drinking. "Strax, how long have we got?"

"They're not going to attack. They make no attempt at concealing their arrival. An attack force would never abandon surprise so easily. And they're clearly in a defense formation." The Doctor then rewarded the Sontaran commander on his brilliant observation with a noogie and kiss on his potato-shaped head, much to Strax's displeasure. "Sir, please do not _noogie_ me during combat prep!"

"So what do they want?" Emma wondered aloud.

Clara stepped in and answered: "The ice woman."

"Exactly." The Doctor confirmed.

"Why's she so important?" Jenny queried.

"Because she's a perfect replication of human DNA and ice crystal form – the perfect fusion of snow and humanity." The Doctor elucidated. "To live here, the snow needs to evolve."

Emma began to follow on what he explained. "So…she's like a blueprint for a race of snow and human hybrids?"

"Yes, and that's what they need." The Doctor said.

The idea sickened Snow. "Ugh! That sounds like the most gruesome type of invasion."

"Oh, there are _far_ more gruesome types of invasions – this is merely a cakewalk." The Doctor then focused on Clara and asked, "When the snow melted last night, did the pond?"

"No." Clara answered.

Emma's eyes grew wide. "Living ice that _won't_ melt? Now that's bad."

Horror masked the face of the Doctor while coming upon a terrifying revelation. "Yes, Emma. It's _very_ bad. If the snow gets a hold of that creature on the stairs, it will _learn_ to make more of them. It will build an army of ice…and it will be the last day of humanity on this planet."

That last statement from him made Emma and Snow look to each other, seeing the equally dismayed faces that most of everyone in the room had. It was then that a ring came at the door, prompting the Doctor to leave them. From the look on his face as he exited and the intense way he instructed them to stay in the room, Emma guessed that the person at the door had to be the ringleader of the attack – Doctor Simeon. Regardless of his orders, Clara followed him out, leaving Emma and Snow in a room with two aliens and three humans from another time, not exactly a welcoming atmosphere to them.

"Do you have _any_ idea what we're going to do next?" Emma asked her mother.

"No," Snow answered with a smile. "But the Doctor will. Just wait and see."

"This is a _global_ situation, not some small town catastrophe." Emma indicated. "Breaking the curse is _nothing_ compared to _this_. How can we hope for him to stop living ice creatures from taking over humanity?"

Snow continued to remain much calmer than she had expected Emma to be. "I've seen that man do _great_ things when he was trapped in my world before the curse. The things we faced in our time there are _nothing_ compared to what _he_ has faced. I don't doubt he will save this world tonight, Emma, because saving worlds is what he does."

Listening to her mother, someone she trusted more than anyone in that house and knew the Doctor much longer than she had known him as just "John Smith," Emma acknowledged her hope in him. Unfortunately, not everyone could be convinced so easily that the Doctor would save them. Latimer in particular rushed to the door, also disobeying the Doctor's orders of staying in the room.

"Hey, where are you goin'?" Emma said, standing in Latimer's way.

"Madam, please move out of my way." Latimer sternly requested.

"The Doc told us to stay put." Emma said. "If I were you, buddy, I'd do as he says to save your own ass."

Needless to say, her words angered the captain. "How _dare_ you address me in such a manner, young lady? Do you know who I am?"

"Right now, you're the guy who's got five seconds to get away from this door before I _force_ you to get back from it." Emma severely warned the captain. "Be smart, pal. Try to live by example for your kids."

The reference to his son and daughter incited Latimer to look their way and see them stand beside his recovering maid, both looking frightened. Taking one last look at Emma, Latimer backed away from both her and the door.

While her daughter sighed in relief, Snow approached and uttered, "Nice job."

Emma smirked. "The advantages to bein' a bondswoman _and_ a sheriff, I guess."


	31. Chapter Thirty

**Chapter Thirty: Battle of the Doctors**

Emma and Snow continued to wait along with Latimer, his children, his maid, Vastra, Jenny, and Strax in the study for the Doctor and Clara to return. They had been away for nearly thirteen minutes, worrying Emma to the point where she felt like disobeying the Doctor's orders herself and going out to help them. She had just as much faith in the Time Lord as her mother did, but every minute they waited for him to return was like a moment of infinity. Just as she was about to make her move and step out of the study, a loud, sickening thud sounded from outside.

"What the hell was that?" She asked.

Everyone looked to the windows and saw a still body lying on the snow in the midst of the snowmen. Chunks of ice surrounded the body. Snow's concerned eyes merged into shock as she recognized the body. "It's Clara!"

Latimer looked out himself and saw the governess/barmaid lying lifelessly outside. "Oh, dear god! Where did she fall from?"

Emma heard a beeping noise from a handheld device that Vastra had in hand and figured that it was connected with Clara's current health status. The beeping slowed down and Emma could see the words "No Life Signs Detected" on the small screen of her device. "Oh, no," she muttered upon realizing what it meant.

"We have to get her inside." Latimer suggested.

"Those snowmen will kill you." Snow warned.

"She's hurt." Latimer contradicted.

"She's dead."

Vastra's diagnosis was enough to stop Latimer just as he reached the door, looking back at her in total devastation. Soon strange noises sounded throughout the area, bringing the captain out of his devastation and into mystification (and a tad bit of frustration). "What is that? What is happening?"

Emma and Snow saw the TARDIS materialize around Clara and knew instantly what had transpired. "The Doc's bringing Clara inside."

As soon as the TARDIS materialized around Clara and concealed her from the surrounding snowmen, it then reemerged inside Latimer's study. Carefully, the Doctor brought Clara's still body out of the blue box and set her upon a desk. Strax immediately went to work on returning her back to health, using alien technology that consisted of a handheld device similar to what Emma saw Vastra holding and a red glowing orb that hovered over Clara, basking half of the study in its glow. While Strax tried to nurse Clara back to health, the Doctor retreated into the TARDIS but left the doors open for anyone to come as they pleased.

Everyone watched as Strax nursed Clara, including Latimer, who was puzzled from the way Clara appeared to be breathing steadily. "That…_green woman_ said she was dead. How could she be alive now?"

"This technology has capacities and abilities far beyond your _puny_ human mind could understand." The Sontaran harshly responded.

"Strax." Emma uttered, encouraging the Sontaran commander to briefly look her way as she addressed him. "Bedside manner, buddy."

Taking a deep breath, Strax looked back to Latimer and calmly (yet awkwardly) said, "Try not to worry." He then returned to work on the barely living Clara.

Snow looked away from Strax and Clara and focused on the TARDIS just in time to see Vastra walk into it. She followed her inside, finding the Doctor by the console and using his sonic screwdriver to scan the chunks of ice that was once the Ice Governess. When he saw Snow and Vastra enter, he looked very guilty, undoubtedly because of what happened to Clara.

"Isn't the creature still a danger?" Vastra asked, noting the chunks of ice that he continued scanning. "It could still reform."

"No, not in here." The Doctor clarified.

"Then you should be with Miss Clara." Vastra suggested.

"She's going to be fine. I know she is. She has to be." The Doctor softly said.

Snow saw the guilt on his face more than Vastra could. "You blame yourself for what happened to her." The Doctor glanced over at her, confirming Snow's assumption to be true. "What happened was…"

"Not my fault – I get that, Snow." The Doctor interrupted her. "But she was in _my_ care. For that, I hold _myself_ responsible for what happened to her."

"What's the point of being with yourself?" A confused Vastra asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't know." He then gave a response that only puzzled the Silurian female even more: "Because she's going to live?"

A short moment later, the Doctor emerged from the TARDIS with Vastra and Snow. All eyes had focused on him and the metal container he held before handing it over to Emma. While the Doctor went to Clara, Emma looked down at the container in her hands and saw that it was a lunchbox with a map of the London Underground from 1967. "What's in this?" she asked Snow as she stood by her.

"According to the Doctor, you _don't_ want to know." Snow answered, only peeking Emma's interest but causing her to feel cautious on handling it at the same time.

Crouched down beside Clara, the Doctor gently took his hands into hers and smiled as she slowly opened her eyes to see him. They both had a brief exchange that included the Doctor giving Clara a key to the TARDIS. As soon as the exchange was over, the Doctor looked intently into empty space and straightened his bowtie. He turned to Emma, allowing her to see that familiar look of seriousness in his face – a look that she had only seen once in the time she met him as the Doctor. It was a look that told her how much business he meant.

Taking the London Underground lunchbox out of her hands, the Doctor headed out of the study. Curiously, Emma followed him as he went to the front door and opened it, revealing Simeon and the army of snowmen surrounding him – more sprouting from the ground each second. He held the lunchbox high in the air and told Simeon and his army, "I have in my hand a piece of the ice lady. Everything you need to know on how to make ice people. Is that what you want?" Simeon stepped forward and held his hand out to take the box from the Doctor, who pulled it further from his reach. "See you at the office!" He then retreated back into the house, slamming the door shut behind him.

"Whatever you're gonna do right now, I'm doing it with you, whether you like it or not." Emma told him as he approached her.

"Fine."

His single-word confirmation surprised her. "Really?"

"Yes, really. _Two_ saviors can save this world here…tonight…together. I'm sorry if I allowed you to doubt me, Emma. I promise I'll never turn my back on you or anyone else ever again. When all of this is over – and it _will_ be over soon – I promise that I'll try to get you and Snow back to Storybrooke…back to your son."

Emma gratefully smiled over the Doctor's change of heart (or _hearts_, in his case). "Thanks, Doc. But I thought you said that you tried everything to get back?"

"There's still one hope left."

"What's that?"

"You."

He walked away on that note, baffling Emma, who momentarily stood where she was and tried to figure it out for herself. No matter how much she tried, it continued to confuse her on what he had meant.

* * *

The Doctor and Emma, along with Vastra, arrived at the office of Doctor Simeon within the Great Intelligence headquarters. They patiently waited for his arrival, giving Emma a chance to see the large, ominous, and bizarre snow globe that he had within his office, sparking with electricity as snow swirled around within it. "So this is what he's been using to control the snow?" she questioned to the Doctor as they waited.

"I believe it's the other way around." The Doctor remarked.

Before she could have asked what he had finally concluded about the connection between Simeon and the snow, Simeon himself entered the office. "You promised us something. Have you brought it?"

Sitting at Simeon's desk with his feet propped on both it and the lunchbox containing the item Simeon referred to, the Doctor maintained a calm demeanor in the face of the other doctor. "The 'big fellow' has been awfully quiet while you've been out, which is to be expected considering who he _really_ is." The Doctor stood up from the desk, glaring deep into the eyes of Simeon as he took the lunchbox into his hands and held it up high. He approached the snow globe and asked, "You know what this is, big fella?"

_I do not understand these markings._

Emma leaped in surprise of the deep, chilling voice that had echoed all around them, looking around to see where it had come from. Once she realized from how the Doctor _directly_ addressed the snow globe that the voice came from it, she figured that she had just about seen everything in the life of the Time Lord; yet she knew that she would be incorrect in that assumption.

"A map of the London Underground 1967." The Doctor said in response to the globe's questioning of the lunchbox. "A key strategic weakness to metropolic living, if you ask me. But then I have never liked a tunnel."

_Enough of this! We are powerful. But on this planet we are limited. We need to learn to take human fo—_

The mysterious voice of the globe was suddenly distorted, becoming very low and then becoming very high until settling on what sounded like the voice of a child. "What's happening to its voice?" Vastra questioned the happening as it occurred.

"Just stripping away the disguise." The Doctor stated, revealing the sonic screwdriver in his hand.

_STOP! Stop that! Cease! I command you!_

"Sounds like a kid." Emma noticed.

"It _is_ a kid." The Doctor kept his focus squarely on Simeon by that point. "It's Simeon as a child. The snow has no voice without him."

_Don't listen to him. He's ruining everything._

"How long has the Intelligence been talking to you?" The Doctor questioned Simeon, whose cold demeanor began to shift to a more timid one upon hearing the voice of his younger self.

"I was a little boy…he was my snowman…he s-spoke to me."

"So it doesn't talk? It's just a mirror." The Doctor surmised. "It just reflects back everything we think and feel and fear. You pulled your darkest dreams into a snowman and look what it became." The Doctor pointed to the massive snow globe behind him, only intimidating Simeon more.

"I don't understand." Vastra said.

"Yeah, me neither." Emma acknowledged. "Is this guy some sort of master puppeteer or something?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No. More like a parasite – feeding on the loneliness of a child and the sickness of an old man. Carnivorous snow meets Victorian values…and something terrible is born."

_We can go on. And we can do everything we planned._

"Ah, yes. And what a plan: a world full of living ice people." The Doctor scoffed. "How very Victorian of you."

Growing from timid to furious, Simeon snatched the lunchbox from the Doctor's hands. "What's wrong with Victorian values?"

Vastra and Emma quickly rushed towards Simeon, both ready to attack. However, the Doctor calmly raised one hand in protest. "Ah-ah! Are you sure?"

Simeon glared at the Doctor. "I have _always_ been sure." He ripped the lid off the lunchbox and reached inside. It was at that moment when Emma heard a sickening _crunch_ and saw Simeon's face turn paler than ever. His hand emerged from the lunchbox with a large alien worm clamped down on it.

Amidst everything that Emma had witnessed upon arriving in Victorian England, the bizarre worm managed to still generate a mixture of horror and surprise over her. "What the hell…?"

"To answer your question, Emma, that is a memory worm." The Doctor indicated. "One touch from the worm and you lose an hour of your memory. But just a single bite from the worm will cause you to lose decades worth of memories, much like our dear friend Walter Simeon is experiencing right now." Simeon collapsed to the room and looked to have entered a comatose state. He looked practically dead to Emma, yet she was certain the Doctor would not have allowed that. "No parasite without the host. Without Simeon, it has no voice. Without the governess, it has no form."

_Wh…What's happening? What…What did you do?_

The Doctor looked to the globe once more, grinning. "You've got nothing left to mirror anymore." And with a great deal of sarcasm, he added, "Goodbye."

The globe's voice continued to distort and the snow within it began to settle down to its bottom. The sparks of electricity above their heads ceased. Emma felt relieved of their success yet she also suspected something. The victory seemed to have come all too easily. And, soon enough, her suspicions proved correct as the snow within the globe suddenly swirled more violently than before and the electricity sparked once again above their heads. And the voice from the globe spoke in its deep, dark tone again, addressing the Doctor with much confidence: _Did you really think it would be __so__ easy?_

A baffled Doctor stared upon the globe. "That's not possible. How is that possible?"

Emma and Vastra braced themselves, both anticipating an attack from the mysterious entity. They soon heard a large gust of wind blow past the window and looked to see a blizzard brewing outside. Vastra called the Doctor's attention to it and the three were shocked to see living snowflakes falling to all of Victorian England, including the home of Captain Latimer.

They returned their focus to the globe. The Doctor became increasingly puzzled by this sudden unknown reserve power from the now-sentient entity. "But you were Doctor Simeon. You're not real. He _dreamed_ you. How can you still exist?"

_Now the dream outlives the dreamer and never dies. Your human companion was right – Simeon was the puppeteer and I was the puppet. But now I am the puppet!_

"I AM THE ONE PULLING THE STRINGS!"

They turned as soon as they heard the amalgamated voice of both Simeon and the Intelligence speaking from the frost-covered body of Simeon. In addition to being nearly frozen, Simeon's body also sparked with the same electricity above their heads.

"I've tried so long to take on human form! By erasing Simeon, you've made space for me! I _feel_ him now!"

Vastra lunged for the possessed Simeon with her sword; unfortunately, she was swiftly knocked away from him. Emma charged shortly after, but she was swatted away as well, flying across the air and smacking against the wall. With no other obstacles standing in his way, the possessed Simeon went for the Doctor himself, pinning him to the floor and touching his face with his ice-cold hand. Frost began to develop over the face of the Doctor and overtake half of it, putting him in enough excruciating pain to make him scream.

Before the possessed Simeon's touch could envelope more of the Doctor, Emma reemerged behind Simeon, leaping on his back and placing a headlock on him. "You know what sucks about being human? You'll always need to breathe!" She squeezed her arm around his neck real tight, forcing Simeon to release himself from the Doctor. While the Doctor recovered from nearly being frozen alive, Emma wrestled with Simeon, who did not seem to be very affected by the hold she had on him. He then reached back with both hands at Emma's face, attempting to freeze her over just as he had with the Doctor. But as the possessed man and Emma herself soon discovered, his touch had no effect on her as she continued to choke the life out of him.

"Impossible!" The possessed Simeon exclaimed in surprise. "You are immune!"

"Oh, yeah? Maybe it's 'cause I had all my anti-freeze shots." Emma wittingly said, despite the fact that she was just as surprised how ineffective his ice-cold touch was to her.

She then felt Simeon's body convulse and figured her hold had finally taken effect. However, from the way she was thrown off of him, she realized that it wasn't her that did the deed. Simeon continued to convulse and eventually collapsed to the floor. "What's happening?"

"The globe…it's turned to rain." Vastra pointed out.

Emma and the Doctor looked to the globe as well and, sure enough, the snow inside of it had liquefied. Their attention went back to Simeon as he continued to convulse and then die right in front of them.

"What the hell is going on?" Emma asked. "How is the snow now rain?"

"The snow mirrors – that's what it does. It's mirroring something else…something so strong it's drowning everything else." The rainstorm outside encouraged the Doctor to rush to the window and open it. Vastra and Emma joined him, seeing the massive rainstorm befall Victorian England. "There was a critical mass of snow at the house. If something happened there…" He took a handful of the rain and tasted it.

Emma had done the same and quickly spat out what she had tasted. "It's _salt_! It's raining saltwater?"

"It's not rain. It's tears."

Emma remained perplexed. "How can it be raining tears? The weather doesn't just cry, does it?"

"Not the weather, Emma. A whole family. The only force strong enough to drown out the snow is an entire family crying on Christmas Eve."

His deduction led Emma to make a revelation of her own – one that unsettled her. "Oh, god. Clara!"

* * *

As soon as they realized Clara's condition had taken a turn for the worse, they immediately returned to the Latimer house in time for the Doctor to say his last words to her. He let her know that they (he and Clara) had saved the world. Shortly after, the life in Clara began to drift away. Before she ultimately died, she uttered a few words that appeared to have a great effect on the Doctor…

"Run. Run, you clever boy. And remember."

A grandfather clock chimed the tolls of midnight, signifying the transition from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. To Emma and Snow, it was a rather depressing way to ring in the holiday with the death of a woman who managed to bring some spirit back into the Doctor. For that purpose, they too shed tears for Clara's unfortunate death.


	32. Chapter Thirty-One

**Chapter Thirty-One: The Magic Touch**

"What do we say when he comes back?" Emma anxiously quizzed.

"Nothing," answered Snow, who tried her best to remain calm and collected. "We say nothing."

The two women stood by the console within the TARDIS as they waited for the return of the Doctor, who paid his respects for the deceased Clara in the cemetery where the TARDIS had been parked. The doors were open, allowing them to see the Doctor, Vastra, and Jenny stand a short distance from Captain Latimer and his children as they stood near Clara's grave sadly. Shortly after they departed was when the Doctor stepped forward with Vastra and Jenny.

"She was the one person who could bring him out of his funk." Emma noted upon watching the Doctor crouch beside the gravestone and leave some flowers. "What if losing her brings him back into it? Before she died, he promised to get us back to Storybrooke. What if he now changes his mind?"

Snow wanted to give Emma a direct answer to ease her concern, but she herself wondered the same thing. "I don't know. What I _do_ know is that what we went through here has definitely influenced him. When I saw him confront the Ice Governess, there was a zealous feeling in him – as if he _missed_ the excitement of being in danger. I hadn't seen that look in so long."

"You two had really been through a lot together before the curse hit, hadn't you?"

Snow nodded with a smile. "He saved my life more times than I can count. When I'd fallen victim to the poison apple that Regina gave me, she took away his Time Lord identity and left him with no idea who he was or where he came from. He didn't even remember me for a while. Red was the only one who could've helped him by giving him the new identity of John Smith, so that he could survive our world. I still believe that if the Doctor didn't have his memories and identity taken away by Regina, he would've prevented the curse from happening."

"And we would've been a family." Emma saw a tear fall from Snow's eye and realized how much the notion saddened her. "Hey, it's alright. We still have that chance in becoming one again. Regardless of whatever attitude the Doc has when he comes through those doors, we _will_ get back home."

Just as soon as Emma assured her mother of her beliefs, they heard footsteps rush into the TARDIS and the doors slam shut. They found themselves watching a heavily giddy Doctor running about the console room, throwing his top hat and coat into the air and giggling like a happy child. As much as Emma and Snow were thankful to see him in a pleasant mood, they realized how out of place it felt considering that he just returned from the funeral of someone he grew to care about.

When he finally made it back to the console platform, he shouted the name "Clara Oswin Oswald" while flipping switches and levers on the console before stopping to look at one of the screens on the console that displayed Clara's face. Emma and Snow glanced between the image of Clara on the screen and the Doctor's delighted face and were beyond confused.

"O.K., what's up with you?" Emma finally asked.

"Just discovered something astounding – something that could change my life forever – something _big_!"

Intrigued from his buildup, Snow asked, "What is it?"

He looked at her and answered, "I don't know." With that puzzling response, he chuckled again while moving to another part of the console.

Unbeknownst to him, Emma had become a bit frustrated. "Alright. Enough of the mysteries and secrets. What do you know that you're not tellin' us, Doc?"

"It was her!" The Doctor exclaimed. "It was Clara! She was Soufflé Girl!"

"Who the hell's Soufflé Girl?" Emma questioned.

Finally taking notice of her frustration and confusion, the Doctor explained: "During one expedition I took with Amy and Rory in this Dalek asylum, this woman named Oswin Oswald helped us to survive. She made me promise to take her with us, but when I finally found where she was in the asylum, I saw that she had been fully converted into a Dalek. She sacrificed herself to let us escape. I never saw her face – only heard her voice and name."

"So what does this have to do with Clara?" Snow asked.

"Clara's full name is Clara Oswin Oswald. She loved making soufflés, just like Oswin did, and her last words to me before she died were 'Run, you clever boy, and remember me' – the _same_ words Oswin said to me before _she_ died!"

Emma tried her best to understand the mystery. "So…it was the same woman who died twice in two completely different lives?"

"I believe so." The Doctor happily acknowledged. "That's why I'm going to find her. Find Clara in whatever life she's living now."

Emma began to see how distracted the Doctor was from this new mission of his, and it upset her that he had completely forgotten what he promised to her back in Latimer's mansion. Not even the presence of her and her mother in his TARDIS was enough to remind him of that promise.

He didn't help make himself look any more innocent in the eyes of Emma when he requested, "Emma, do me a favor and pull that lever." He pointed to one particular lever that hadn't yet been pulled, which was the one that dematerialize the TARDIS.

Emma wanted to pull the Doctor's head off his shoulders more than she wanted to pull that lever. She glanced over to Snow, who didn't appear very pleased herself to see the Doctor neglecting his promise to her daughter. In the end, Emma decided to pull the lever and then afterward tell the Doctor off for forgetting to take them back to Storybrooke. She pulled it with so much force driven from anger that she could've torn it off its hinges.

Just as the lever was pulled, an enormous tremor came over the TARDIS that briefly knocked Emma, Snow, and the Doctor off their feet. While Snow and especially Emma grew concerned of what had happened, the Doctor laughed maniacally, much to their uncertainty. "What is so funny?" Emma questioned the madman. "What did you make me do?"

Once the Doctor calmed down from his maniacal laughter, he told Emma, "I helped you to help us kick-start the TARDIS on its next destination."

After a short moment, Emma and Snow ultimately realized what he was doing.

"Wait." Emma said. "You mean…?"

"We're going back to Storybrooke?" Snow excitedly finished Emma's question.

The Doctor largely smiled, looking directly at Emma, who began to figure him out just from his smile. "You knew. You knew that I was the key to getting back this whole time. But, if you knew that, why didn't you want to go back? Want _us_ to go back?"

"I'd lost so much hope before Clara came to me for help, and I wanted to make you two lose hope as well…get you to see that going back to Storybrooke – to a place that wasn't your _real _home – was fruitless. I was wrong for that. I want to help you get your real home back…because it's _my_ home now, too."

Emma and Snow both smiled; they felt incredibly proud of the Doctor for being fully restored back to the man he once was. Of course, that didn't stop Snow from asking, "What about Clara?"

"I'll find her." He looked to the image of Clara Oswin Oswald projected on the screen. "She's out there…somewhere."


	33. Chapter Thirty-Two

**Chapter Thirty-Two: The Vanishing Act**

It seemed to Jack that most of the town of Storybrooke was inside Granny's that morning to question him and River, who most never met until that day, as they sipped glasses of fresh, cold water while answering their concerns. The question that was asked the most was where Emma and Mary Margaret/Snow White were. And when Jack answered with a genuine "I don't know," it only fueled everyone's apprehension, most particularly David's.

"They were in the TARDIS with you and then they just…disappeared?" David asked, trying not to sound as if he didn't believe Harkness. It was hard enough to believe he and River returned the way that they did with a barely-held-together TARDIS and a compass that was beyond repair.

"We both saw it happen." River said. "We can't necessarily explain _how_ it happened. It just did."

Mother Superior stood by, listening to their case. "They must have been banished by the magic. The Doctor told me once how differently his TARDIS machine reacts to the magic of our old world and this one. It's possible the magic excommunicated Emma and Mary Margaret."

"Just like it did to John." Ruby said before she left the room with more tears streaming from her eyes. Granny followed her to the back to the diner, leaving the other townsfolk with Jack and River.

Seeing how depressed Ruby was over the Doctor's disappearance, Jack felt terrible. "We're sorry…We're sorry that we lost them. But you have my word that we _will_ find them again."

"And how ya plan on makin' that happen, _Captain_?" Leroy coldly asked.

"We still have a functioning TARDIS outside." River indicated. "With the right calibrations, we should be able to…" She glanced out through the window and spotted something unsettling. "Oh, god!" On that exclamation, she dashed right out of the diner to the confusion of everyone around her – Jack included.

The others followed River out of the diner and discovered what had lured her out. The structure of the TARDIS began to dissolve into blue ashes right from where it stood near the entrance to Granny's. It was quite a disturbing sight, mostly to Jack and River, who saw the blue alien box as their only hope in finding Emma, Mary Margaret, and even the Doctor again. After mere seconds, the once-standing police box had transformed into a four-foot pile of blue ashes, and it lost inches from the gust of wind that blew some of the ashes down the sidewalk.

"What's happened to the TARDIS?" Henry asked.

River held some of the ashes in her left hand and bits escaped through her fingers. "It's just…gone. The TARDIS has disintegrated itself."

"How in the hell does _that_ even happen?" Harkness questioned, sounding very displeased at the sight of the blue ashes.

River did her best to maintain composure as she gave her hypothesis. "I-It's got to be the result of our reentry into this reality. It wasn't able to sustain the journey between worlds, so it just…it disintegrated."

Jack was seething. It did not help calm him to hear the arrogant voice of Mr. Gold speak near them. "My, my. They just don't make alien relics like they used to, do they?"

He looked over to see Gold standing out in the middle of the empty street corner with a puzzled Belle by his side. Of course, Jack didn't see Belle; his focus was entirely on Gold. His mind shifted back to the time before he was sent off into the fairy tale world with Emma and Mary Margaret. He remembered one crucial detail that was the reason for his next action. Without a second thought, Jack walked briskly up to Gold and slugged him right across the face, shocking Belle and everyone else who witnessed the sudden attack.

Gold collapsed on the concrete, losing grip on his cane, which fell to the street with a loud _clang_. He held the side of his face that Harkness struck him in and found a small trickle of blood that escaped from his mouth. The punch didn't surprise Gold one bit; in fact, he anticipated someone doing just that to him one day, but he never imagined that someone to be Jack Harkness.

Jack moved in for another strike, but he was suddenly cut off by a furious Belle. "You stay away from him!"

David, doing his duty as a temporary sheriff, stepped in to prevent any more violence from the immortal captain, who voiced his distain of the man also known as Rumplestiltskin. "This whole thing is on you, Gold! Emma, Mary Margaret, the Doctor…all of them are gone because _you_ decided to bring magic back!"

"Magic comes with a price, Captain," said Gold, who was being helped back up by Belle. "I just never realized at the time how much of a price it came for everyone, myself included. But I wouldn't worry yourself too much over the fate of the Doctor." He nodded to the pile of blue ashes near River. "That 'vanishing act' you just witnessed? It isn't because of your miraculous return to this town. It's because both the Doctor and the TARDIS still exist within this world."

Gold's revelation sounded surprising yet suspicious all at once.

"How do you know for sure?" David asked him.

"I've known enough about that powerful blue box in the time I've chased after it and its owner before the curse." Gold answered. "I've seen the way it reacts to our magic. It's like _poison_ to it. And the Doctor is like poison to our magic. One merely cannot exist with the other."

River seemed to follow what Gold had explained to them. "Sounds like a feasible fact. But the Doctor managed to return to this town when your magic was at its strongest."

"And our magic tossed him back out when it saw fit. It's like a paddleball, dearie. Our town is the paddle while the Doctor is the ball. Every time it tries to bounce him away, he just keeps comin' back."

River smiled from the interesting metaphor. "Paddleballs have strings to link the paddle and the ball together. Are you suggesting there's some sort of link between the Doctor and this town?"

"Indeed I do." Gold admitted. "And that link is the one person who has been such even for _this_ town during its most troubling time."

"Emma." Henry uttered with an excitable smile. "You're saying that Emma and Mary Margaret could be with the Doctor this minute?"

Gold gently bent over to retrieve his cane. "I wouldn't be surprised if they were, Henry. Your mother has just as strong of a link to the TARDIS as she does to Storybrooke. If there's anyone who can get the Doctor back here, it's her." He began to walk away with Belle, but not without giving one more bit of advice: "But…if you're anxious to get them to return sooner rather than later, and I'm certain that you _are_, then I'd turn to someone who has just as much of a special connection to the Doctor."

"And who's that?" Harkness asked.

Gold grinned. "Her Majesty."


	34. Chapter Thirty-Three

**Chapter Thirty-Three: Memories of Another Life**

Archie knew calling Regina over to his office with Jack Harkness, River Song, and David present there was a huge risk. Their sessions were meant to be confidential, but with the Doctor now missing from Storybrooke, there was no choice in what had to be done. At the moment Regina had arrived and saw Jack, River, and David there with Archie, his fear became reality in a heartbeat when she immediately turned to him and said, "What the hell is this?"

"It's not an intervention, if that's what you're wondering." Jack jested.

When Regina finally realized that it was _Jack Harkness_ in the room, she blinked rapidly in surprise, believing that she had been seeing things. "Captain Harkness? How did you get back? Have Emma and Mary Margaret returned as well?"

Jack shook his head. "No. A freak accident has both fixed our little problem and made matters more complicated at the same time. The Doctor's vanished from the town. We don't know _where_ he's gone to exactly, but I've been told that you're the one who might be able to tell us."

"Me?" Regina uttered in confusion. "Why on earth would any of you believe I could find the Doctor? _Who_ told you that I could even _tell_ you? Was it Gold?"

Harkness found himself getting frustrated quickly. Seeing that he was and fearing he would lash out at Regina for wasting time, Archie stepped in. "Regina, you mentioned to me that you've had recurring dreams that feel like memories of another life. That other life is the Doctor's, isn't it?"

"Yes," Regina admitted, "but those are just memories from his past, not his present."

"Well, that's a good enough place to start." David said. "Maybe there are clues that can get us in the right direction."

Regina sighed, taking the meaningless plan into consideration. If she wanted to continue convincing Henry that she could change, she had to be willing to help in even the most hopeless of cases such as the one they posed to her. "Fine. I'll do what I can."

Jack looked to River, who then nodded to Archie. "Thank you, Regina," Archie told her. "Now, if you'll just lay here on the couch, River will give you a sedative to…"

"You're going to _drug_ me?" Regina snapped.

"Unless you intend on poisoning yourself to sleep with an apple, we can do it _that_ way." River's sarcasm was the only thing that had pushed Regina into going along with the idea of drugging her to sleep.

She removed her coat and lied down on Archie's couch, rolling up her sleeve to allow River to inject the sedative into her left forearm. After the injection, Regina waited for the drug to kick in. While she waited, she focused on River. Her face scrunched from recollection. "I remember you."

"You remember because the Doctor remembers." River contradicted.

Regina shook her head. "No, no. I remember meeting you _before_ the curse. You…" Her focus on River's grinning face started to fade, meaning that the sedative began to kick in. The area around her began to shift and expand until it was no longer Archie's office but an entirely different room – one that was more _alien_ in nature.

She saw the room fill up with thousands of versions of a creature that she had never seen before but knew about from the Doctor's memories. The creature was known as a Dalek, and it came in a variety of shapes and colors yet maintained the same distinctive design of its race. Their telescope-like eyestalks were directed solely on Regina, who was genuinely terrified of them. One of them had spoken to her – its set of twin speaker "lights" flickering on and off from its dome as a way of communication in reflection of its loud, heavy robotic voice.

"YOU ARE THE DOCTOR!"

"No, I'm not!" Regina cried.

"YOU ARE THE DOCTOR!" Every Dalek in the room screamed altogether.

"My name is Regina! Regina!"

The Daleks fell silent, turning to each other as if they were all confused.

"THE DESIGNATION 'REGINA' DOES NOT REGISTER WITH YOUR DESCRIPTION!" A different Dalek indicated. "YOU MAKE A FEEBLE ATTEMPT IN DECEIVING US, DOCTOR!"

"YOU ARE THE DOCTOR! YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF THE DALEKS! YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!"

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

Regina cried out to the chanting Daleks, but she knew it was useless to make a plea to the metal monsters not to kill her. Soon enough, she found herself staring down at the gunsticks of all the Daleks in the massive room, each and every one aimed directly at her. The chants of "Exterminate!" sounded in sync with each other while the Daleks opened fire on Regina. Thousands of blue beams discharged from the gunsticks and connected with her body. She felt the searing pain of the beams' negative effects, exposing her skeletal structure. The pain was so overwhelming that all Regina could do was scream and watch her body fade into ashes.

Her scream resonated out into the real world while David tried to control her thrashing body. Her eyes snapped open, and she ceased screaming upon discovering that she was still alive and staring at the alarmed faces of Jack, David, River, and Archie. "Regina, it's okay," David told her. "You're alright."

She looked around, seeing that she was back in Archie's office and still lying on the couch. Her face was covered in a mixture of tears and sweat, running her makeup. "Where are they? Where the hell are they?"

Archie stood puzzled from her frantic behavior. "W-Where are who, Regina?"

"The Daleks!"

"You saw the Daleks?" River curiously asked.

"YES!" Regina shouted. "They were _everywhere_ around me! They killed me!" David, Jack, Archie, and River each stared at each other with great interest. Seeing their stares, Regina questioned, "How long was I out?"

"For ten minutes." Jack answered. "You were babbling in some alien language, which River figured out was Gallifreyan."

"Well, what did I say?" Regina asked, looking to River.

All eyes turned to River, who hesitated in translating. "Most of it didn't make much sense. Like Jack said, it was just babbling."

"So, in other words, we wasted ten minutes of our time." Harkness complained.

His words heavily offended Regina. "_Your_ time? No, Captain Harkness, you've wasted ten minutes of _my_ time by mentally _torturing_ me." She pushed David out of her way and shot up from the couch, grabbing her coat on her way out of the office. Jack watched her leave, feeling very disconcerted and lost on what to do.


	35. Chapter Thirty-Four

**Chapter Thirty-Four: A Friend in Need**

Ever since the attempt to probe the half of Regina's mind that contained the Doctor's subconscious, Regina had gone M.I.A. Jack and David searched everywhere in town for her; they knew she could not have gone any further than the town line if she didn't want to risk losing her memory. Of course, after what had happened in Archie's office, Jack wouldn't put it past Regina to purposely make herself forget everything to take away the mental effects of the Doctor's subconscious. Regardless, her sudden disappearance did not bode too well for Jack, who still had to deal with the disgruntled townsfolk along with David, who himself felt discouraged with the continued absence of Emma and Mary Margaret.

After a long day of searching, Jack and David returned to the station in defeat. "You really think she might've done it?" David asked, anticipating the worse. "You think she tried to go over the line?"

Harkness shook his head and sighed. "I don't know _what_ to think anymore. We're running out of options, David."

"Doesn't River have any ideas?"

"Only to use her vortex manipulator to search all around time and space for one blue police box; but even _that_ will lead us to another dead end. The Doctor is a hard man to find, unless you have the right resource to use to reach him. I didn't even know I'd found him the whole time here in Storybrooke when I met him as John Smith." Jack snickered as a not-too-distant memory came to mind. "The greatest success I ever had in finding him was through this severed hand I kept in the old Torchwood hub in Cardiff."

David raised a curious eyebrow. "A severed hand?"

"There was this event in London on Christmas of 2005 when an alien ship invaded the Earth and nearly killed thousands of people. The Doctor had just regenerated and fought the leader of the invading force. Somewhere in the fight, the Doctor had his had cut off and it fell from the ship, landing in a random area of the city. When Torchwood investigated the incident in its aftermath, I just happened to find the hand lying there and kept it submerged in a container. Only after a few days with it did I realize from the familiar alien energy it gave off that it belonged to the Doctor."

David found the story incredibly insane; however, having been familiarized with the life of the Doctor (which was no stranger than David's), he accepted it all as just another interesting fact about him. "Well, as demented as it sounds, it's too bad we don't have another severed hand of the Doctor's to use in finding him now." Harkness grinned and nodded in agreement with David's sentiment. At the same time, the telephone at the sheriff's desk rang and David went to answer it. "Storybrooke Sheriff Department." He listened to the voice on the other end; it was a woman, possibly in her early to mid-thirties with a peculiar accent that David couldn't properly identify. She gave David the name of someone that she wanted to know was there and David replied with a hint of surprise, "Uh…yeah…he's here with me now." Jack noticed David slowly turning and gesturing the receiver his way. "It's for you."

Jack stood confused; in the days he had been in Storybrooke, as well as in a parallel universe, he never figured anyone would find out he had been there. But one person did, and Harkness could not pass on finding out who it was. He went to David and took the receiver from him, placing it against his left ear and left side of his mouth. "Hello?"

"Jack? Is that you?"

"Gwen? How did you know I was here?"

"Your Doctor told me that you were."

Harkness nearly lost his grip on the receiver upon hearing what his friend and Torchwood colleague told him. "W-What did you say?"

"I said the Doctor told me that you're there." Gwen reiterated over the phone. "At least I think it was him. I only got this postcard from this little town called Storybrooke in the mail that says 'Jack Harkness is here and he needs to find us' and it's signed by the Doctor. It could just be a joke, but I…"

"Gwen, where are you right now?"

"I just landed in New York with Rhys and Anwen. We're on our way there right now to…"

"No, stay there." Jack instructed. "Check into a hotel. _I'll_ come _there_ and meet up with you."

"Jack, _what_ is going on?"

Harkness then heard the angry voice of Rhys Williams in the background saying, "What's he got us mixed up in now? Ask him!"

"Not now, Rhys." Gwen told her furious husband.

Jack let out a disgruntled sigh; he knew that hell was coming once he did meet up with Gwen and Rhys in New York. He wished that she hadn't brought him along with her, but he realized that Gwen was a wife _and _a mother now, which meant family would always come first. "Just tell your husband that we're saving lives again," Jack said. "He'll understand _that_ – or at least _learn_ to."

"Get here as soon as you can, Jack. I'd hate to think we came all this way for nothing."

"Trust me, Gwen…you didn't." He hung up the phone and bustled past David, who seemed heavily confused. "I have to go. Tell River and anyone else who asks about me that I'm going out of town for a while and I'll be back soon."

"Why? What's going on? Who was that over the phone?"

"An old friend of mine."

"Can she help us find the Doctor?"

Before walking out of the room, Jack stopped and smiled confidently. "You don't know the half of it."

* * *

Jack tried his best not to go too fast through the road leading out of town. His mind raced as fast as his black sports sedan did upon thinking over the many reasons for the Doctor leaving that postcard for Gwen. The postcard had to be a lead-in for something much larger – a way of redirecting the Doctor back into Storybrooke. He wouldn't have just left a subtle message and then be off his merry way. If there was more – if there was another card yet to be played – then Jack had to be _out_ of Storybrooke to see that it was. Whatever magical force that took the Doctor out of the town had kept him from returning, so it was crucial for Jack's meeting with Gwen to be in New York and not in Maine; of course, he couldn't tell _her_ that entirely or else Rhys would surely refuse to let her help.

As Harkness finally reached the exit out of Storybrooke, he brought the sedan to a tire-screeching halt when he discovered a chaotic scene blocking the way. There, just near the line that was never to be crossed by any of the cursed residents of the town, was Mr. Gold cradling a frantic and wounded Belle in front of his car. Across from them was another vehicle that had veered off the road and crashed into a tree with the driver slumped over the wheel and unconscious. Jack immediately got out of his sedan and rushed over to Gold and Belle; while doing so, he caught sight of one more party at the scene – Captain Hook. The pirate captain lied battered and bruised at the side of the road, and he himself was left unconscious from whatever chaos that had unfolded there.

Jack stared at Hook for a long while in total shock. _How the hell did he reach Storybrooke from the other world?_ It was a mystery bigger than the one Jack currently faced with the Doctor. He did not have much time to reason out the cause of Hook's presence there as a desperate Gold shouted to him, "Don't just stand there, Captain Harkness! Get an ambulance here _now_! Belle's been shot!"

"Why do you keep calling me that? Who are you?" Belle hysterically questioned, pushing Gold away from her but stopping when she felt the searing pain from her gunshot wound.

Jack only then realized how Belle and Gold were situated over the other side of the line marked on the road to warn the cursed townspeople of the exact thing that happened to Belle there and then. How Gold still had _his_ memory intact was something else Jack had to worry about for another time. In the meantime, he did as Gold requested and rushed back to his sedan, contacting David through his cell phone and alerting him of the scene he uncovered there.


	36. Chapter Thirty-Five

**Chapter Thirty-Five: A Matter of Life and Death**

Had David and the paramedics not have arrived in time, Jack would've been left to deal with the most chaotic scene at the town exit by himself. With Belle suffering a gunshot wound, Hook severely injured from the car that ran him down, Gold attempting to finish the job for what the pirate did to Belle, and – above everything else – the unconscious stranger behind the wheel of the car that entered Storybrooke, it was more than Harkness could handle alone. That last bit of news unnerved David and even Ruby and Leroy, who arrived at the hospital just as they heard the sirens.

At the moment they popped in through the doors, Jack gave a direct order to a nearby nurse to hide Hook in one of the hospital rooms; even though it sounded strange, she carried it out without question. Of course, Jack hid Hook more for the pirate's safety than anyone else's. Not long after he was wheeled away, Gold showed up and demanded to know where Belle was.

"She's being taken care of, Gold." Harkness assured. "Just…"

"I want to see her." Gold commanded while trying to push his way through the human barricade that was David and Leroy. "I want to know what's happened to her!"

"I'd like to know that myself." Leroy judgmentally remarked.

Gold repeatedly screamed Belle's name from the top of his lungs, prompting Doctor Whale to make himself known to the frantic group. "Everybody, calm down. Mr. Gold, everything will be fine. She's in good hands here. I promise."

The doctor's reassurance did not seem to put Gold much at ease from the unsettlingly quiet way in which he walked away to another section of the hospital. Relieved that some order had been brought over the atmosphere, Harkness nodded to Whale and said, "Thanks. I owe you one."

However, Whale did not appear to accept the offer humbly. "That's more than enough you _owe_ me, Harkness." With that said, Whale walked away in a huff.

Witnessing the flare of anger Whale expressed towards Jack, Leroy stepped in and asked, "What was _that_ all about?"

"You _don't_ want to know." Jack coldly answered.

"Well, I'll tell ya what I _do_ want to know – who the hell just came into our 'happy' little town?" Leroy said.

Jack pulled a cell phone out of his coat pocket, showing it to Leroy, David, and Ruby. "I got his phone before they pulled him out of the car. I've tried getting into it, but there are a million possible combinations to try. It'll take days, maybe months."

"Actually, there are only _ten thousand_ possible combinations." Ruby indicated.

"Leroy, can you get it open or something? Hack it?" David questioned.

"You do understand that computer-hacking and pickax-hacking are different?" Leroy said.

As the group disputed ways of approaching the task, Harkness was suddenly reminded of the vortex manipulator on his wrist and an idea struck his mind. "Let me try something." He brought the device close to the phone in David's hands and pressed a few buttons. Within seconds, David saw an array of information pop up on the phone's display.

"Jack, you did it!" He exclaimed. "It's giving us everything, including his name."

Harkness took the phone from David and looked at the readout. "Greg Mendell. Well, Mr. Mendell…let's see where you've been lately, shall we?" Jack pressed his right thumb against the display, bringing up Mendell's recent contacts and images of the man by himself at eastern seaboard tourist locations, as well as tweeted images of his food. "Alright…this guy _really_ needs to find a girlfriend. But, from what I'm seeing here, this guy appears to be nobody important. Doesn't mean I'll stop checking up on him though."

David sighed. "Looks like that trip to New York is put on hold, eh?"

Ruby frowned in suspicion. "New York? What's in New York?"

"More like _who_." Harkness enunciated. "A friend of mine is there because the Doctor sent her a message."

"The Doc's back?" Leroy excitedly said.

"Where is he?" Ruby asked, sounding just as thrilled. "When is he coming to Storybrooke?"

Jack raised his hands to calm the two. "We still don't know _where_ he is exactly. Gwen told me…"

"Who's Gwen?" Leroy curiously queried.

"She's the friend he messaged." Jack clarified. "Anyway, she told me that he sent a postcard with Storybrooke on it."

Ruby became more confused with this news. "That's not possible – unless he got a hold of one before he vanished."

Jack shrugged. "I don't know. I'm the only one who can go there and find out, which I _can't_ do now with the mess that's going on here."

"You go, Jack." David said. "I'll take care of things here."

Harkness shook his head. "No. I _need_ to figure out how Hook got here. If he's here, then that means his partner in crime Cora is here also. And with random strangers now coming into this town, not only could more innocent lives be at stake, but…"

"All of our secrets could be, too." Ruby concluded his statement.

"Anyone could drive in." David said. "Why are my instincts telling me that's a bad thing?"

"'Cause you've seen _E.T._ or _Splash_ or any other movie where they find something magical and study it to death." Leroy stated.

Harkness nodded in agreement with Leroy's sentiment. "He's right. I can tell you all the horror stories about Torchwood and its dealings with the extraterrestrial before I changed all of that. Why else do you think I took the news about the magic behind this place so easily? It looked normal on the outside but was something totally _alien _on the inside."

"Well, in all fairness, Jack, we thought the same about you when we first knew about _your _secret." Leroy indicated.

"We don't need outsiders here." David said.

"With other people coming here, that's not going to be good with Hook and Cora in town." Jack stated. "We need to find Regina. She's Cora's daughter. She'll know how to deal with her."

"I've been tracking her. No luck." Ruby said. "She's gone underground."

Jack moaned. "And if Cora finds her first, then we're in even bigger trouble. I just hope to God that Whale and his team can get Mr. Mendell patched up sooner than possible."

"It's _not_ going to be as soon as you hope, Captain." All heads turned to see Whale enter the room once again. "He's bleeding into his chest cavity. It's not a full flood, you know, but pretty soon he'll be drowning in his own blood."

"So make it stop." Jack said. "You _are_ a doctor, aren't you?"

Whale appeared disgruntled by Jack's question; he was barely able to utter a word, which surprised Harkness and the others. Rather than answer Jack, Whale moved past the group and focused on someone else that had entered the scene. "Gold." He saw him come down a flight of stairs and approached him. "You fixed me. Now fix _him_. It will take you seconds and cost you nothing."

Listening to Whale's request, Jack grew suspicious of the two men.

"No." Gold wasted no time in his answer. "I owe you nothing, Whale." He looked past the doctor and towards the others. "I owe _none_ of you anything, and some of you owe _me_ – the biggest one of all being Miss Swan, who happens to be missing from our little party and therefore cannot fulfill the favor she owes me. So, yeah, just…no. Oh, and point of interest – the driver? He saw me throwing some magic. So instead of trying to get him out of here, you better be hoping he dies. Because if he doesn't, he's gonna be driving tour buses up and down main street. So glad I don't give a damn."

Immediately after his rant, Gold made his departure from the hospital, leaving Jack with a more despondent group of people. "Screw Gold," he said. "We save this man's life."

"Are you crazy?" Leroy grumbled. "If we save him and kill the whole town, is that really better?"

"So we have to choose between our lives and his." Ruby said.

"Well, I choose _his_." Harkness declared.

"You don't get a say in this, _Captain_! This ain't your town!" Leroy retorted. "And, frankly, it ain't your business either!"

"Leroy! Enough!" David yelled, noticing the attention the former dwarf's bellowing had gotten them. "We'll worry about Storybrooke after we save this man's life. Dr. Whale, prep for surgery."

Whale merely acknowledged David's order with a nod and walked away. Watching the doctor leave, Harkness took notice in his behavior, only sharing it with the group once he was away. "I'm sure that I'm not the only one who's noticed how drunk that man was, am I?" The suspecting glances of David, Ruby, and Leroy were enough to show that they agreed. But their focus was redirected to the phone of Greg Mendell, still in the hands of Jack, as its _Star Wars_ ringtone blared from its speakers. They looked to the phone suspiciously, realizing that someone had called for the phone's owner, who was incapacitated at the moment.


	37. Chapter Thirty-Six

**Chapter Thirty-Six: The Curse of Time**

Hook woke up in his hospital bed in so much pain that he did not dare himself to move another inch. He slowly opened his eyes and saw, at the foot of the bed, Jack Harkness standing and grinning at him, appearing just the way he last saw him only without his trench coat on. The sight of Harkness brought more discomfort over Hook than his own injuries had. "I _am_ in hell, aren't I?"

"If you consider getting plowed down by a speeding vehicle and sustaining a few cracked ribs as 'hell,' then, yes, you are." Jack jested. "I have just two questions for you, Killian."

"And why would I answer any questions _you_ have for me?"

"Because between the fact you're in excruciating pain and that you're handcuffed to your bed, you have no other choice."

Hook glanced at his only good hand, which – as Jack had said – was handcuffed to the bed. The other arm, which was supposed to hold his hook, was missing the appendage at the moment. It reminded him of the last time he had seen Harkness. "This again, eh? It didn't work the last time. What makes you think it will now?"

"Like I said, you're in unbearable pain." Harkness indicated. "Now, for my first question – Where's Cora?"

"Go to hell, Harkness."

Jack snickered. "Already tried. You see, there's this 'condition' I have where I can't just stay dead. You wanna talk about hell so much, let me tell you this one time where I'd been blown to pieces. Every bit of my body _in_ bits. My own remains had to piece themselves together until there were enough organs, bones, and tissue back in place to make me feel anything again." He stepped in from the right of Hook's bed, moving in closer to the pirate. "And you wanna know how it feels having a hundred percent of your body lacking an epidermis?" Without warning, Jack pressed both hands down hard on Hook's torso, causing the pirate captain to scream in immense agony. "Tell me where Cora is!"

He eased up on his torso, allowing him enough time to recover and answer. "I have no idea where she is. She has her own agenda."

"How did you two get here?"

"Is that your second question?" Harkness pressed down on Hook's torso again, prompting him to take his immortal adversary more seriously. "Alright, alright!" Jack loosened up and Hook found himself once again fighting for breath as he answered, sweat pouring from his forehead. "I took the last of a magic bean from the giant when you and Swan left me there to die. That bean, combined with water – _sea_water, to be precise, was enough to open a portal from the other world to this one."

"So you killed the giant to get the bean and escape?"

Hook chuckled, shaking his head. "Sorry, Harkness. You promised me only _two_ questions. Now let's talk about something _I_ am interested in – my hook. May I have it back?"

"You will once I've found a way to send you back to where you belong."

"That'll be impossible for even an immortal man like you. You don't have magic, Captain Harkness, or magic _beans _for that matter."

"No, but I have something _much_ better – I have the Doctor."

"Ah, yes. Our good old friend. He's here in this town, isn't he? I'm awfully looking forward to meeting him again."

"Not gonna happen."

"And you're sure of that?"

"What I'm sure about is how much trouble you've gotten yourself in with a certain man by the name of Rumplestiltskin. If I were you, buddy, I'd be thinking about how to get out while the gettin's good. Because you've pissed off the _wrong_ man."

Jack left Hook with this thought, walking out of the hospital room and feeling more informed about the situation with the pirate captain than he had before visiting him. Arriving in the waiting room, he was greeted by an emotional River Song. "Jack, is it true?"

He assumed that she was referring to the Greg Mendell situation and said, "Yes, there's an outsider in Storybrooke. He suffered some massive injuries, but Dr. Whale is…"

"No, I mean is it true about the Doctor?" River asked. "Has he contacted someone you know outside of Storybrooke?"

Harkness nodded. "Yes, it's true."

"Then why are you still here? Why aren't you out there with your friend looking for him?"

"Because, River, I have to…" He felt Greg's phone vibrate in his left pants pocket and pulled it out to see the same caller, whose name came up as just "Her," displayed on the touchscreen.

River looked at the phone as it continued vibrating in Jack's hand with the displayed caller I.D. "Who's 'Her'?"

"I wish I knew." The phone suddenly stopped vibrating and logged the call as "missed," much to Jack's relief and agitation. _It's only a matter of time before this "Her" gets suspicious and drives __her__ way over to the town_, he nervously thought.

"Jack!" He looked away from Greg's phone and noticed that David was approaching them, appearing a bit unsettled. "Whale's gone."

"What?" Harkness exclaimed in surprise.

"The staff tried to page him, but his pager was the only thing we found of him other than his coat." David informed. "Ruby's got his scent and she's going out to look for him right now."

Harkness appeared very perturbed from the news. "Why the hell would he leave the hospital in the middle of Mendell's surgery?"

David shook his head. "No idea. He's been really off lately – drinking on the job, turning to Gold for help, and snapping at you." The last item he focused heavily on. "What did he mean earlier by 'that's more than enough' you 'owe' him? Do you two have some sort of history over your time in Storybrooke?"

Jack sighed. "Actually, it goes further back than that. We have history in the _other_ world."

"What?" David reacted in understandable wonder and confusion. "How is that possible? We've only known you for the short time you've been here in town."

River understood immediately. "When we were in the fairy tale world, we encountered a Weeping Angel. It tried to siphon Jack's life energy by sending him back through history – the history of _your_ world – and kill him in the process. What it failed to take into consideration was Jack's immortality. Jack lived through every event that ever occurred and met many of you before your curse."

"Well, you must've bypassed me, because I don't remember ever meeting you before the curse." David indicated.

"Actually, David…you _did_." Jack noted. "You don't remember it because it hasn't caught up with you yet. It all happened in a different life. A new curse was set into play the moment I interfered with your history. I guess the Doctor would call it 'The curse of time' – or maybe just a 'Time Curse,' whichever you prefer. I guess Whale is the only free agent of that curse, much like Regina was with hers. Don't ask me how – I'm still trying to figure it out myself."

David acknowledged Jack's facts with a simple nod. "Well, I hope for our sakes that time will be a healing rather than a curse in our situation now. The sooner Ruby finds Whale, the closer we can continue getting the Doctor, Emma, and Mary Margaret back home. In the meantime, Jack, tell me about this 'history' you have with Whale."


	38. Chapter Thirty-Seven

**Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Other Doctor**

The story that Jack shared with River and David sounded like something straight out of a horror story, which was understandable considering Whale's real identity. According to Harkness, Dr. Whale was in actuality Dr. Frankenstein – a character that Jack had the unfortunate pleasure in crossing paths with once or twice during his prolonged time in the fairy tale world. Frankenstein discovered Jack's immortality after Jack was impaled from the sword of a vengeful knight. Believing him to be dead, Frankenstein attempted to bring him back to life but found out, after removing the sword, that Jack was capable of that feat all by himself. Frankenstein was so fascinated by Jack's immortality that he offered him a place in his experiments through blood donations, surmising that the blood of an immortal can bring the dead back to life. But what started out as blood donations later turned into something Harkness could never agree to – organ-harvesting. Even though Jack could easily grow back a new organ, the thought of repeated surgical procedures to harvest his organs was…

"Enough," said River, who managed to be sickened enough from Jack's story to make her immediate request for it to end.

Of course, the story had to end at that point with the sudden arrival of Ruby and a more sober Dr. Whale, who went right back to work on Greg Mendell's surgery. Soon after Whale was back in the O.R., Jack went to Ruby and asked, "Where was he?"

"On the _edge_ of ending his life," she answered, and Jack quickly realized from the context of her answer that she spoke in literal terms. "But he's okay now after our talk. Did you know that he's…?"

"Dr. Frankenstein?" Jack uttered with a grin. "Yeah." His grin grew wider as he came upon a realization: "Dr. Frankenstein and the werewolf. You two would make a cute couple, you know."

Ruby scolded him with a doubtful look, although Harkness could see through it enough to interpret some actual interest from the young woman. This surprised Jack, counting the relationship Ruby had with the Doctor (or "John Smith," to be exact). It seemed to Harkness that she had completely moved on in the absence of her lover. Jack wasn't sure if that should be a good or bad thing; but he figured – had River saw the way Ruby was taking interest in the _other_ doctor – it might as well had been a good thing for Professor Song.

* * *

Hours later, Whale returned to the waiting room and alerted the group of the good news: Greg Mendell's surgery was a success and the man was going to live. In acceptance of this news, Jack and David requested to talk to Mendell. Whale gave his permission and the two men immediately went to Mendell's room with Jack carrying Mendell's personal effects there with him. When they arrived at the room, they found Mendell in his bed – conscious but still recovering from injuries and surgery.

"Mr. Mendell?" David was the first to address the man. "I'm…_Sheriff_ Nolan. This is Deputy Harkness."

Mendell squirmed in his bed a little, appearing to be slightly nervous. "I'm thirsty," he said in a hoarse voice, prompting Jack to grab a glass of water with a straw near his bed and allow the man to have a sip of it. Jack set Mendell's personal effects beside his bed. After his sip of water, Mendell asked them, "You guys are here about the accident?"

"We are, actually." Jack confirmed.

"I-I didn't hit anybody, did I?" Mendell asked.

"Yeah," Jack hastily answered, "but he had it coming."

"_What?_" Mendell exclaimed in a state of shock.

David loudly cleared his throat, reminding Harkness of his place in the interrogation. "What my deputy is _trying_ to say is that the damage was pretty minor."

Mendell exhaled in relief. "Oh, thank God."

"We do, however, need you to tell us what happened in your own words." Jack said. "What you did, what you saw."

"Well, I…I didn't see anything." Mendell hesitantly remarked.

"Mr. Mendell, you're not in any serious trouble _now_." Jack assured in a somewhat stern voice. "But, if you choose _not_ to cooperate with us, then we'll have no choice but to…"

"I was texting." Mendell hurriedly said. "I looked down, just for a second. And when I looked back up, he was…he was right there. And he was too close to avoid, but I…I know it's not legal in Maine." Jack and David exchanged a curious glance upon hearing Mendell's confession. Noting their looks, he anxiously asked, "A-Am I still in trouble?"

"No," acknowledged David, who tried his best to shelter his excitement. "No one's in any trouble, Mr. Mendell."

"So…no charges?" The man cautiously questioned.

"No charges." Jack said. "Just don't text and drive next time, alright?"

Mendell nodded. "Yes, sir. When can I go home?"

"As soon as the doctor clears you." David said. "Thanks for your cooperation, Mr. Mendell."

* * *

"So he didn't see nothin'?" Leroy excitedly asked David and Jack, who returned to the former dwarf, Ruby, Whale, and River in the waiting room.

"Yep." Jack replied. "His only real crime here is texting while driving."

They were all relieved from the update, David most especially. "Now maybe things can calm down for the next ten minutes and we can catch our breath."

"You all can," Harkness said, "but I have a trip to New York that calls for my _immediate_ attention."

"Calls for mine as well, Captain Harkness." A voice outside the group spoke up and they turned to see Gold standing by. "There's someone I'm looking for in New York also, so I'm coming with you on your trip."

Jack and the others were taken aback from Gold's sudden announcement. "Who the hell is in New York that _you're_ looking for, Gold?"

"My son. And I'm going with you _today_ because every minute I'm here is a minute closer to me killing Hook. So it's really best for all concerned if I leave." He then addressed the others in the group and added in an austere tone, "Oh, and, um, we have a long history, so know this and know it to be true – if any harm comes to Belle while I'm gone, I'm killing _all_ of you."


	39. Chapter Thirty-Eight

**Chapter Thirty-Eight: Journey's Beginning**

Jack drove his sedan towards the border of Storybrooke with Gold in the passenger seat and Henry in the backseat. Henry accompanied the two men as a promise Harkness had to make for David. With Hook and Cora in Storybrooke, Henry had to be somewhere far away from the town, fearing one of the two (presumably Cora) finding and hurting him. In agreeing to the deal, Jack mostly thought of Emma, who would not have been too pleased to learn that her son fell at the hands of the mother of her worst enemy. Taking Henry with him and Gold to New York sounded reasonable on both sides of the spectrum.

"So…where are we going?" Henry asked during the road trip.

"Logan International Airport." Gold responded, clearly dodging the question.

"He means _after_ that." Jack clarified. "I've arranged for us to meet Gwen in the lobby of the Livingston Hotel – that's where she and Rhys are staying."

"I thought we agreed this trip to be specifically about finding my son." Gold said in an offended tone.

"No, this trip is about finding the Doctor _and_ your son." Harkness rebutted. "We can easily kill two birds with one stone. We meet up with Gwen at the hotel first. After that, we'll take things one step at a time." As they got closer to the town border, Jack briefly glanced over at the beige shawl around Gold's neck. "You really think that shawl will work once we cross the border?"

"Well, if it doesn't, and I revert to my cursed self, we're all gonna have some problems." Gold jested. He then confidently assured, "It'll work."

Harkness and Henry could only put a fragment of faith in Gold's assurance as they finally came upon the "Leaving Storybrooke" sign. Just as soon as the sedan crossed the border, there was a small gust of wind come over the inside of the car. With the windows closed and the air-conditioning off, neither Jack nor Henry were certain where the breeze came from until they looked over to Gold and noticed it mostly blew _his_ way. Once it passed, Jack and Henry looked cautiously to Gold, who just stared off into space.

"Gold?" Jack uttered in concern.

Gold grinned. "My name is Rumplestiltskin. And we're gonna find my son."

* * *

Jack figured once he, Henry, and Gold got their tickets for the flight to Manhattan that it would be smooth sailing from there. Unfortunately, he discovered how wrong he was when the three arrived at the security check. Gold appeared increasingly agitated and Jack quickly took notice of it. He attempted to ask whether or not if the man secretly known as Rumplestiltskin was alright, but he was soon interrupted by an overly enthusiastic Henry. "Pretty cool, isn't it?"

"What's that?" Jack asked.

"That when you arrived in Storybrooke, you were heading to the airport to find the Doctor." Henry indicated. "Now you're finally here for the exact reason. Pretty cool, huh?"

Harkness smirked at the notion. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess it is."

Henry then directed his focus to Gold, who continued to grow nervous the closer they got to the security check. "So, Mr. Gold, have you ever been outside of Storybrooke before?"

"No." Gold seemed a bit perplexed in his response.

"Are you nervous?" Henry asked.

"No."

"Are you worried about meeting your son?"

"No, Henry, I'm fine."

It was obvious from Gold's reply to the last question that Henry had gotten on his nerves. To avoid Gold unleashing a full-blown rant on the boy, Harkness quickly interjected as they finally reached the security check. "Alright. Take it easy. Henry, we can talk more about this later, O.K.?"

Henry acknowledged with a nod, checking his bag, coat, and shoes in the bin. "It must be really hard not to use magic, being like everyone else." His words unknowingly put more of a negative impact on Gold, who was already nervous as it was with maintaining his memories so far from Storybrooke.

Behind Gold, Jack had already started checking in his trench coat, shoes, and vortex manipulator. He noticed the TSA agent glancing at the vortex manipulator questionably and calmly said with a smile, "Father's Day gift from my son." He gestured to Henry. "You know how kids are – give us a tie that doesn't fit, gotta pretend like it does."

The agent smiled back and nodded. "Tell me about it."

Soon after convincing the agent of his fib, Jack whispered to Gold, "Make sure to put your shoes in."

Gold cringed at Harkness. "How terribly uncivilized." He then removed his shoes with discomfort and placed them inside his bin.

"Uh, scarf and cane go inside the basket." The agent told him.

"What?"

"Scarf and cane go inside the basket."

The request brought Gold at an unease; he turned helplessly to Jack. "I can't."

"You're gonna have to." Harkness said.

"It ain't rocket science, buddy." An angry man said behind them. "You ever been on a plane before?"

The impatient man only infuriated Gold more, waving his cane in the stranger's direction. "Have you ever been impaled upon a cane before?"

"Hey, hey." Jack stepped in between the two men, lowering Gold's cane and saying to the stranger, "My uncle's just nervous. It's his first time on a plane."

"Your _uncle_?" Gold whispered in surprise.

"Just put the shawl in the bin." Jack whispered back. "I'll help you get through."

"Harkness, if I let this go, I could forget who I am."

"That won't happen, I promise."

Gold looked long and hard at Jack's face, seeing the genuine sincerity as he gave him his word. After a brief moment of immense hesitation, Gold finally removed his coat along with the shawl, placing the two inside the bin. Immediately after doing so, he began to feel disoriented – things around him were starting to feel unfamiliar, including Jack, who guided him through the metal detector. As soon as Gold's bin made it out through the scanner, Jack quickly took out the shawl and coat and placed both back on Gold. The immortal captain said something to Gold that sounded muffled and garbled at first, but once he regained his focus, things sounded much clearer.

"You alright?" Jack asked again.

Gold exhaled and nodded in reply.

* * *

The time Jack, Henry, and Gold spent in the airport waiting for their flight felt like an eternity of turmoil for Gold. After watching him pace back and forth for hours, Jack suggested that he go to the bathroom and splash some cold water on his face for a while. Gold took Harkness up on his suggestion and, in the meantime, Jack and Henry went to a nearby coffee shop to grab some hot drinks and some Cinnabons that Henry spotted on the way past the security check. During their time in the coffee shop, Jack attempted to contact Gwen again while Henry watched a television show on a nearby set. Even though Henry wasn't absolutely certain what the show was called, it featured one character that bore a striking resemblance to Jack.

"Damn." Henry's attention moved away from the TV back to Jack himself as he furiously pressed the "end" button on his phone. "She's not picking up. This trip is taking longer than I imagined it would. If we're not there in the next…"

"We'll make it on time, Jack." Henry assured. "Just chill."

Jack chuckled, shaking his head and taking a sip of his coffee. "You're right. I'm just as bad as Gold, aren't I?"

"Actually, between the two of us, I think Mr. Gold's about ready to slam his fist through the wall." Henry said. "But don't let him know I told you that."

"Don't worry. I won't."

Henry looked down at his cup of hot coco and Cinnabon for a moment, lost in thought. "Jack? Do you think Emma and Mary Margaret are doing okay?"

Jack saw how concerned Henry was about his mother and grandmother and felt great sympathy for the boy. "They're with the Doctor, Henry. I'm sure they're perfectly safe."

Henry frowned. "I know, but…_that's_ why I'm so worried. I know the Doctor protects people and saves worlds, but sometimes that's not always what happens, is it? Sometimes the people he's with _do_ get hurt or _die_…like Amy and Rory…right?"

The boy's question brought silence over Jack. There was no way for him to answer Henry's suspicions without confirming the fact that they were true, which would have only made him _more_ concerned for Emma and Mary Margaret. However, Jack was spared of the difficult decision to be honest with Henry when the announcement of the boarding of their plane to Manhattan came over the intercom.

"That's us." He said. "You better go grab Gold, so we can get to our plane."

"Sure thing." Henry affirmed before departing from the coffee shop and leaving Jack to momentarily ponder on whether or not Emma and Mary Margaret _would_ survive whatever insanity the Doctor may or may not have been putting them through, just to return to Storybrooke.


	40. Chapter Thirty-Nine

**Chapter Thirty-Nine: Coming Undone**

Regina had not slept peacefully for over a week. Ever since her last therapy session (if she chose to call it that) with Archie, she had been in solitude within a secret room in her underground vault. Her hair was disheveled, her skin was very pale, her eyes were bloodshot, and her breath was foul. She was physically and emotionally unwell. What Archie, Jack, River, and David had done to her during the last session had lasting effects on her mental state. Every time she looked in the mirror, she saw a version of the Doctor – an elderly man with shoulder length, greyish-white hair and piercing brown eyes, a middle-aged man with dark curly hair and a ridiculously long, multi-colored scarf, and a man with close-cropped hair wearing a plain leather jacket.

Because these visions of men who were familiar and unfamiliar to her at the same time had haunted her for days and nights, Regina shattered every mirror in her secret room. Unfortunately for her, the visions didn't stop there. Creatures far beyond any ogre or dragon that she had seen in her time in the enchanted forest appeared before her. Daleks threatened to "exterminate" her and Cybermen warned that she would be "deleted." Then there were the Silurians – reptilian humanoids armed with guns and tongues that killed – and the Silence.

On the eighth day of Regina's turmoil, she was visited by one terrifying vision of a creature known as an "Ice Warrior." Just like the Silurians, it was reptilian and humanoid in origin, but it was much larger – standing up to seven feet tall – and bore "bio-armor" that matched its scaly skin and featured a half-face helmet with a red blast-screen over each eye. It spoke to her, addressing her as "Doctor" like all the creatures before it, in a whisper and a drawn-out hiss.

"You have been a nuissssance in our planssss for too long, Doctor. You are a cursssse to all life."

Regina held her hands over her ears to deafen the hissing of the Ice Warrior; she shut her eyes tight to avoid looking at the alien. Both actions proved futile – Regina still heard the Ice Warrior's hissing voice beneath her clasped ears and saw its form underneath her eyelids. She even smelled the creature, plaguing practically all of her senses. It drove her completely mad.

"You will perissssh, Doctor. Perissssh."

"Leave me alone! Dammit! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Regina."

The hiss of the Ice Warrior ceased and she suddenly heard a completely different voice that made her reopen her eyes and unclasp her ears. She saw her mother standing tranquilly before her. Tears flooding her eyes and sweat pouring out of her forehead, Regina shook her head at what her mind tried to convince her was her mother. "No…no…it's not you. You're not really here. It's another trick."

Cora shook her head. "It's no trick, my love. I _am_ really here with you."

"No!"

"Regina, trust your feelings." Cora took her daughter's left hand and held it in hers. Feeling her mother's touch, Regina was stunned from a sense of familiarity – something that she hadn't felt for days. "You can sense that I'm here, can't you?"

"Mother?" Regina's breathing quailed as she fought to maintain focus on the true form of her mother. "How is it that you're here? How did you get through?"

"Determination." Cora answered. "I had to see you. I needed to tell you that I know why you sent me through the looking glass. And I know why you tried to have me killed. And it's…it's alright."

"I think it's _not_ alright."

"I love you. I just…I've always shown it in all the wrong ways. And I never should have made you marry the king. I'm so sorry. When you cried over my coffin, it…it all changed."

Regina listened to every word of her mother's. It all sounded believable yet unbelievable at once. The confusion – combined with seven exhausting days of living in fear, paranoia, and other forms of mental torture – made Regina collapse right into her mother's arms. Both women went down to the floor and Cora cradled her withered daughter back and forth.

"I don't know who I am anymore, Mother. I…I _see_ things. I see a life that's not mine, but…my mind…it makes me _think_ that it is."

Cora grinned with recognition. "You used the soul transference spell. That's the one spell I never dared myself to use, because of the very thing you are going through now. Who did you use it on?"

"The Doctor."

Cora's face hardened from the revelation. "Well…that explains a lot, doesn't it?"

"I…I can't handle it anymore, Mother. The headaches…the sleepless nights…the visions…I want it all to go away, but I don't…I don't know how. I want my life back. I want my son back."

"Let me into your heart. Together, we can get back everything you hold dear."

"How?"

"Oh, I have a few thoughts. But you must first be willing to make the journey."

"The journey to where?"

"To killing the Doctor."


	41. Chapter Forty

**Chapter Forty: He Is The Key**

"Jack! It's so good to see ya!" Gwen Cooper embraced her Torchwood colleague and closest friend as soon as he, Henry, and Gold arrived in the lobby of the Livingston Hotel. "It feels like forever since I last seen you!"

"I've been a _little_ busy since last time." Jack gestured to Henry, who looked as if he was waiting anxiously for Jack to catch up with his fellow Torchwood member before he had a chance to meet her. "And speaking of little, this fella's name is Henry. He's been pretty anxious to meet you."

Gwen smiled immensely, focusing on Henry. "Has he now? How sweet."

"Jack's told me a lot about you and Torchwood on the way here." Henry said. "I almost couldn't believe _half_ of the things he's told me. Is it true that when you first discovered Torchwood that you pretended to be a pizza delivery girl?"

She glanced over to Jack, somewhat scolding him with a playful glower. "You _have_ told him a lot about me."

Harkness heartily laughed, but his fun was quickly disrupted by Gold, who reminded them all of his presence by rudely injecting himself into the conversation. "May we move on with the pointless pleasantries? We're on a tight schedule."

Surprised by the insolence of Gold, Gwen looked his way and asked Jack, "And who's _this _character supposed to be?"

"One of the two reasons why I'm in New York." Jack said.

"The name's Gold, dearie, if it pleases your little Welsh heart to know. And I'm not here to watch you and Captain Harkness catch up on old times – I'm here to find my son. And the sooner we take care of whatever inconsequential business we have here, the closer I'll be to finding him. Now, with that said, let's carry on, shall we?"

* * *

Gwen only knew Gold for a mere few minutes, and she felt like that was enough time to judge what type of character he was. Just being in the presence of him on the way to her hotel room made her uncomfortable, which was why she kept herself so close to Jack. Noting her awkwardness around Gold, Jack seemed a bit amused. He wished that he could have told Gwen who Gold _really_ was, just to see how she felt about him afterward. But he had chosen to keep that information discreet for the time being. The less Gwen knew about the things he had seen and been through in Storybrooke, the less likely it was she would go there when Jack, Gold, and Henry had to leave Manhattan. She was only back in America to help him find the Doctor – if that was a possibility.

Once they arrived in Rhys and Gwen's hotel room, Jack received a less-than-welcoming greeting from the husband of Gwen Cooper as he sat down on a fancy red leather couch and watched a flat-screen television set. "Well, if it isn't the devil himself, and I mean that _literally_."

"Nice to see you, too, Rhys." Jack said in heavy sarcasm.

"We're never gonna have a _normal_ life with you always around, are we?" Rhys remarked with some sarcasm of his own.

Jack smirked. "What _is_ 'normal' these days?"

Rhys chuckled. "Touché." He then noticed Henry and Gold entering with Jack and Gwen, growing curious. "And who are these two? Are they part of your newest insanity that you've got my wife mixed up in?"

"Rhys." Gwen muttered in a cautionary tone of voice.

They heard Anwen crying from Rhys and Gwen's bedroom. Gwen reacted to the sound as if to go to her daughter herself, but Rhys quickly stood up and moved ahead of her. "I'll calm her down. You just…do your thing." He gave her his permission in that same moping way he always did, and – as usual – it drove Gwen mad, making her feel guilty for ever getting involved with Jack. At the same time, she loved him for it, because it meant that he understood what she had to go through as not only a mother and wife, but a member of Torchwood as well.

Left with Jack, Henry, and Gold, Gwen went right to work. "Right then. Follow me into the kitchen. That's where the postcard your Doctor left for me is." They followed her into the aforementioned section of their hotel suite and, as Gwen pointed out, the Storybrooke postcard was kept on the table.

Jack picked the postcard up from the table and looked at the Doctor's message. He frowned upon analyzing the text. "You said that the message on the card read, 'Jack Harkness is here and he needs to find us,' right?"

"Right. That's exactly what it said." Gwen confirmed.

"Yeah, well, read what it says _now_." Jack handed the postcard to Gwen, who appeared perplexed from what the immortal captain just said.

Gazing upon the same postcard that she received in the mail back in Wales, Gwen was even more baffled to discover the _new_ message written on the card. The new message had said "Find Him – He Is The Key" and gave an address located right in Manhattan. Of course, Gwen was more focused on something other than the message itself. "H-How did it say one thing and then say another thing entirely?"

Harkness snickered, catching on to the trick. "Oh, that clever bastard."

"If you know something, Captain Harkness, then spare us the egocentricity and tell us." Gold impatiently demanded.

"The Doctor often uses something called 'Psychic Paper' to get himself around certain places." Jack explained. "Psychic paper enables its user to get the one reading the paper to see whatever he or she wishes them to see printed on it. The Doctor wanted Gwen to see his message about me, and he wanted me to see his message about…whoever this 'Him' is."

"So he used psychic paper out of an ordinary postcard?" Henry said with high amusement. "That is so cool!"

Gold snatched the postcard out of Gwen's hands and glanced at the information written on it. "I know this address. It's where my son is." Suspicion began to befall upon him. "Why does the Doctor want _you_ to find _my_ son?"

Harkness smiled. "Because _your_ son is our 'key' to finding _him_."


	42. Chapter Forty-One

**Chapter Forty-One: Double Life**

The address that the Doctor left for Jack led him, Gwen, Gold, and Henry to a shabby-looking apartment complex – the home of Gold's son, Baelfire. Harkness doubted anyone by the name of "Baelfire" would be listed on one of the intercom panels, despite Henry checking for it. Any of the names listed on the panels could have been an alias Baelfire had taken upon living in the new world. _The least the Doctor could've done was give us an apartment number_, Jack thought in aggravation. With no name and no apartment number, the group had reached a dead end…until Gwen spotted one nameless entry for "407" on the panels.

"It could just be vacant." Jack presumed.

Gwen smirked. "Take it from someone who once lived in hiding herself, Jack. Any people who _don't_ want to be found also don't like to advertise their whereabouts."

Jack sighed in admittance of her theory. "Fine. But let _me_ do the talking."

"Never stopped you before." Gwen said with a grin.

Harkness pressed the "call" button for "407" and then spoke into the intercom with a heavy Scottish accent. "Oy! I forget meh keys! Anywey ye can buzz me back in, mate?"

The other end of the intercom disconnected, which left the group questioning Jack's approach to addressing the occupant. "I think you laid it a little thick with the Scottish," Henry openly critiqued.

Rapid movement was then heard upstairs, and Jack immediately deduced what was happening. "He's making a break for it." Jack rushed outside with the others and discovered the resident of 407 climbing down from the fire escape, his face obscured by his hoodie. "Hey!" Jack shouted for the escapee and the man only half-turned for a second before bolting down the sidewalk. "Gwen, let's catch him. Henry, you stay with Gold. We'll be back."

Henry did as Jack told him while Harkness and Gwen ran down the sidewalk, dodging past several pedestrians to keep up with the fleeing stranger that was possibly the son of Rumplestiltskin. The chase reached through an intersecting street corner, forcing Jack and Gwen to dodge oncoming vehicles. Jack was hit by one taxicab, his body smashing over the hood and into the windshield, but the immortal captain rapidly recovered from the painful impact and resumed with the chase.

The runner led Jack and Gwen to an alleyway. Before moving in, Jack spotted a clothing store to the left of the alley and signaled for Gwen to take a shortcut through the building. She had done so while Harkness chased the man down the alley. Once the stranger reached the other end of the alley, he turned left, only to have been surprised by Gwen, who tackled him to the ground. As soon as he saw that Gwen overpowered the runner, Jack slowed down and walked his way to the spot where she and their target were sprawled out on the ground.

After catching his breath, Jack gloated over the victory. "Thought you could lose us, huh? Well, buddy, I'm afraid this isn't your day." He picked the stranger up by the collar and forced him to stand up. "You better be worth the trouble, being the son of Rumplestiltskin." He removed the hood, exposing the face of a man in his mid-thirties with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a hint of facial hair.

The man, clearly frustrated over being caught, looked to Jack. It was at that point his attitude had changed from frustration to pleasant surprise. "Captain Harkness? Oh, damn. It's really you! You really haven't aged a day!"

Gwen, picking herself up off the ground, was confused by the man's familiarity of Harkness. "Jack, he knows you?"

"Clearly." Jack remarked, sounding just as confused as Gwen. "But I haven't a clue who _he_ is."

The man laughed. "It's been that long since our time with the pirates, hasn't it?"

Jack's eyes widened; he finally recognized the man that he chased over three blocks. "_You_? You're Rumplestiltskin's son?"

"How do you know who my father is?" The man asked – only to allow his own suspicions to answer the question for him. "Oh, my god. He's here, isn't he? You brought him to me? Why would…?"

"Hey!" Jack infuriatingly bellowed. "I'm not concerned about your estranged relationship with your old man right now. What I'm concerned about is finding the Doctor. He told me that you're the key to getting him back to Storybrooke."

The man was silent for a long moment. "Alright. But we can't discuss it here. We gotta get off the street. We can't do it here, out in the open. I spent a lifetime running from my father. I'm not gonna let him catch me."

Harkness nodded in agreement. "Fine. Where should we go?"

"There's a bar down the street. We can talk there."

Jack gestured to the direction that the man pointed in. "Then lead the way." He and Gwen then casually followed him to their next destination.

Still confused over all that had transpired after their intense chase, Gwen whispered to Jack, "_Who_ the hell _is_ this man?"

Harkness shook his head. "I wish I knew for sure right now."

* * *

At the bar, the man once known as Baelfire revealed his new name – Neal Cassidy – to Jack and Gwen. He told the two Torchwood officials how he escaped from the world he was born into as a way of getting away from his father and the dark magic that had overtaken him. However, as Jack pointed out in the conversation, the world that Neal had currently been residing in was not the first one he jumped to after escaping his own.

"After leaving _that_ place, I wound up here, grew up, and fell in love." Neal said.

"Fell in love?" Jack remarked in surprise. "With who?"

"Her name was Emma." Neal's answer was met with shock from Jack, and the immortal's reaction did not go unnoticed by Neal. "Wait. Don't tell me that you know _her_, too."

"She's the other reason why I'm here in New York." Jack said. "She made a deal with your father, but she wasn't there for him to collect the debt, so he dragged me over here to do his work for her."

Neal was not too pleased with this news. "She made a deal with him?"

"I guess. Look, all I care about is finding the Doctor." Jack said. "Did he come to see you recently? Give you a message to leave me? Anything that would help bring him back to Storybrooke?"

Neal looked down at his tall glass of beer, which he barely touched since ordering it. "He did come to see me…but it was eleven years ago, right at the time when Emma and I were together. He told me who she was, or who she was going to be, and that I had to leave her so that she could follow her destiny. If it was any other random schmo off the street telling me something like that, I would've told him to go to hell. But this was the Doctor – a man I once saw stand up to knights that recruited kids for some damned, ridiculous war…a man who I heard great stories about from people who really believed in hope and good. This is man I wanted my father to be…but he chose to be something else instead…something _worse_."

Jack felt sympathy for Neal over his infamous father, but he tried not to let it take his mind off of what really mattered at that moment. "What else did the Doctor tell you when you last saw him?"

"There wasn't anything else. He only told me to leave Emma alone for the sake of getting her back home, which is what I did. And from what you told me about her breaking the curse, it sounds like she's better off without me there with her."

"Emma's _not_ in Storybrooke now. She's with the Doctor." Jack stunned Neal with that update, just as Jack anticipated. "There are things happening in Storybrooke right now that requires not just the Doctor's help but Emma's as well. And if we don't get them back anytime soon, I have a feeling things are going to worse even _before_ they get just plain bad."

Neal sighed heavily, suddenly feeling the weight of the world – or _two_ worlds – on his shoulders. After a long moment in silence, pondering over what Captain Jack Harkness had told him and taking it into deep consideration, Neal shook his head and repentantly said, "I'm sorry, Captain Harkness. There's nothing I can do to help ya."

Jack nodded in understanding but also disappointment. He looked to Gwen, signaling for the door, and she quickly caught on to the fact that it was time for them to leave. Harkness did not say another word to Neal, and his silence made the man formerly known as Baelfire to feel extremely guilty as he was left alone in the bar with a glass of beer that still remained untouched.


	43. Chapter Forty-Two

**Chapter Forty-Two: I'm Your Father**

When Jack and Gwen returned from their chase with Neal, they returned to Gold and Henry, who had been waiting for them in the lobby of Neal's apartment. Once Jack informed Gold that his son had gotten away, Gold – as expected – took the news horribly. He furiously pressed all of the call buttons at the gate until one of the tenants surprisingly allowed him through. His idea was to wait for his son to return to the apartment while he was there – a _bad_ idea to Jack Harkness. There appeared to be no stopping Gold as he broke into his son's apartment and walked right in with Jack, Gwen, and Henry following.

"I'm telling you, Gold. We shouldn't be here." Jack's warnings fell on deaf ears, aggravating Harkness even more. "Alright. Didn't want to have to do this, but…" Jack removed his revolver from his holster and aimed it directly at Gold. The _click_ it made when Jack readied it stopped Gold dead in his tracks.

"Jack!" Gwen exclaimed, surprised by her fellow Torchwood member's sudden action.

Gold turned and faced Harkness, not appearing to be fazed by the gun aimed at his head. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Whatever it takes to get it through your thick skull that you're _not_ going to see your son." Jack boldly remarked.

"And how would you know that for certain, Captain Harkness? Did you speak to him while barreling down the street in your failed pursuit?" Gold's question was meant to be rhetorical; however, looking closely at the questionable look on Jack's face, he made a realization. "You _did_ speak to him."

Seeing that Gold was on to Jack, Gwen attempted to diffuse the confrontation before it boiled over. "Boys, let's just go back to the hotel and figure things out there. I'm sure we can…"

"You're _lying_ to me, Harkness." Gold interrupted. "What did my son tell you?"

"You're not gonna be alive for very long to find out, unless you leave here _now_." Jack warned.

"You're not gonna shoot me."

"Seems pretty simple to me. You don't have magic, and you can't kill _me_. All I'll have to do is pull the trigger at even the slightest move from you."

Henry was surprised by Jack's willingness to kill Gold. Reminded of the fact that he was still in the room, Gwen turned to him and whispered, "Go to the bathroom and wait there, Henry."

Henry hesitated. "But they're…"

"I promise nothing will happen. Just wait in the bathroom _please_."

Henry saw how desperately Gwen wanted him to do what she instructed, so he rushed into the bathroom and waited. Meanwhile, the showdown between Gold and Harkness continued.

"Gold, I'm giving you one last chance to get out of here and forget about your son. Your son is _dead_."

"Don't tell me that. Don't you _dare_ tell me that!"

"Jack, put the gun down!" Gwen demanded.

"One last chance, Gold!"

"You wanna shoot me? Then _shoot me_!"

"Jack!"

"Leave!"

"SHOOT ME!"

"HEY!" Another voice shouted outside the group and everyone turned to see Neal rush right in. Jack lowered his revolver in surprise, while Gold stood shocked to see his son standing there right in front of him. Neal stared down his father and brazenly said, "Leave them alone."

Gold was nearly speechless, but he managed to speak to the man, uttering only the name he knew him as since he was an infant. "Bae?" Neal nodded, solemnly acknowledging his former character. Gold beamed with happiness. "You came back for me."

"No." Neal's response disappointed God. "I came to make sure you didn't hurt these people." He gestured to Jack and Gwen. "I've seen what you do to people who rebel against you."

"Please, Bae. Just let me talk."

"I have no interest in talking to you. You can go."

Gold shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Get out of my apartment!"

"Neal…" Jack stepped in.

"No, Cap. I got this."

Gold was taken aback from the acquaintance that the two men had. "You two…know each other?" He then repeated his words with more distain and in a louder tone. "You two know each other. How? How do you two know each other?"

"What is going on?" They heard Henry say as he reentered himself into the conversation.

"Who's this?" Neal asked, a bit surprised from the boy's emergence.

Jack felt like he had been backed into a corner the moment Neal questioned about Henry's identity. He wondered how Emma would have handled this situation had _she_ been there. It was pretty obvious from the moment Neal told Jack about him and Emma what connection the man had to Henry. After taking a deep breath and holstering his revolver, Harkness looked to Neal. "He's your son."

Neal felt his body go numb immediately as he heard this news.

"What?" Henry said with a chuckle, believing Jack to have been joking. Unfortunately, from the seriousness on the immortal captain's face, it was clear to Henry that he wasn't. "No. My dad was a fireman, and he died. Emma told me that he…"

"She lied to you, Henry." Jack said, shocking Henry into a state of heartbreak. "I'm sorry."

Henry was on the verge of tears, shaking his head in disbelief of the fact that his own mother – his _real_ mother – had lied to him. He leaped out through a nearby open window and climbed out into the fire escape. Jack attempted to head out onto the fire escape himself, but Gwen quickly stopped him. "I'll go and talk to him, Jack. You handle things here."

As she headed outside, Jack knew exactly what she meant. Neal was flooded with emotions, having to come back to confront his father and then discovering that he had a son. Jack stood between him and Gold, trying his best to play peacekeeper – a role that seemed impossible after nearly shooting Gold. "Look, Neal…Emma made a deal with your father. That deal was to get him to talk to you. I understand that is a lot to ask for, but for _her_ sake…would you please do it."

Neal was quiet for a very long time, wrapped in his emotions and caught in a seemingly difficult decision. After a while, he finally nodded and told his father, "You got three minutes."


	44. Chapter Forty-Three

**Chapter Forty-Three: The Search Continues**

"Henry…I don't know if you're ever going to get this. I don't even know if the reception's even all that good from inside a time vortex, or whatever the Doctor calls it. But I…I miss you. Mary Margaret and I have been away from Storybrooke for so long that it seems so distant from us now. We've tried so hard to get back. There's just _something_ keeping us out. We don't know what it is yet, but the Doctor's looking in on it. At least, I _thought_ he was. He's been so focused lately on this girl, Clara. I can't begin to explain it, but we met her in Victorian England. How Mary Margaret and I got to Victorian England is a whole other story. But, anyway, Clara died, and now the Doctor thinks that she's still alive somewhere in another time.

You know me, always the one to have to see it to believe it. But I've seen _a lot_ of things lately with the Doctor that you wouldn't begin to believe yourself. I saw a short guy with a potato head, a lizard lady, a woman made completely out of ice, and living snowmen. How awesome is that, huh? Really wish you can be here with us. There's so much I've yet to tell you about…me. I lied to you, Henry…about your father. He wasn't a fireman, and he didn't die. In fact, I don't know _where_ he is now, but the Doctor made sure that I'd never know, since _I'm_ the one who had the Doc tell him never to be with me again. But if you do ever bump into him by some chance, his name is Neal Cassidy and…I loved him once. And I know that he'll _really_ love you if you ever meet him."

Tears flowed from Emma's eyes as she left her voicemail message over the phone. Nearby, Mary Margaret stood by the TARDIS console, almost pretending not to have noticed Emma crying at one of the staircases that led to the console platform as she sat there and imagined that her son was on the other end of the connection.

"God, I want to see you again, Henry. It doesn't feel right that I've left you again like this. But I know your grandpa is watching out for you. I promise we'll see the both of you again. I…I love you, kid."

Emma hung up and momentarily put her head in her hands, quietly sobbing. Mary Margaret immediately went to her daughter's side and comforted her. "It was good of you to do that," she told her.

"Good for who? Me?" Emma said in vexation. "Every moment I'm in this damn blue box I feel like I'm moving further away from him."

"I know, but the Doctor…"

"That man's mind is on someone who doesn't even exist anymore. Yet he thinks she's somehow managed to come back from the dead in another time. He's lost it. He lost it the moment he got ripped from Storybrooke just like _we_ did."

Mary Margaret sighed. "Give him some time, Emma. He'll put things right again. This thing with Clara…I'm certain there's a point to it all."

"There's no point to it all. What we see as a coincidence, he sees as the universe's greatest mystery. It's ridiculous."

They heard rapid footsteps coming into the room, alerting them on the Doctor's entrance. Emma quickly wiped away her tears and got off the stairs with Mary Margaret in time for the Doctor to appear and walk down them. The Time Lord was filled with excitement as he approached the control console and triumphantly yelled, "This is the one! This time! I know it is for certain!"

Her mind still on the conversation between her and Emma, Mary Margaret did her best to seem happy for him. "You finally found which time Clara's in?"

"Yes. No. Maybe. Not quite exactly sure." The Doctor answered in his usual ambiguous way, which Emma and Mary Margaret had yet to be used to since their travels with him began. "I'm willing to take another chance after twenty others, but I know she's got to be in _this_ time." Looking past Mary Margaret, his eyes briefly connected with Emma's reddened pair. Frowning over this, he vocally deduced, "You've been crying."

Noticing that he was addressing her, Emma tried to play dumb. "What? No. I…I haven't."

The Doctor moved uncomfortably close to her, staring directly into her eyes. "Yes, you have. Your eyes are as red as cherries. You're sad about something."

Emma stammered. There was just no hiding anything from the overly observant Doctor. "I miss Henry," she finally said.

The Doctor regretfully nodded. "I know you do, Emma. And I'm trying all that I can to get us back there. The postcard that I left a friend of Jack's will work – I know it will."

"That's what I don't understand." Mary Margaret remarked. "How is a woman in Wales going to help us get back to Storybrooke, _Maine_?"

"Because that woman just happens to be a member of Torchwood." The Doctor answered.

Emma grimaced, recognizing the name. "Jack's secret club or whatever?"

"Well, it's not exactly a 'secret,' or even a 'club' for that matter." The Doctor emphasized. "Not sure _what_ it is now."

"Doctor." Emma uttered. "You were saying?"

"Right! Yes! The postcard that I left for Jack's friend is the key to our return to Storybrooke. I recalibrated a typical psychic paper to match in appearance with the postcards found in the town. Jack Harkness' friend will see one message for her mind and Jack will see another for his mind, taking him to the man who will be responsible for our return."

Emma and Mary Margaret were both pleased with this plan of the Doctor's, yet they were baffled from it at the same time. "Wait. What man?" Emma questioned.

"Do _we_ know him?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Is it somebody in Storybrooke?" Emma inquired.

The Doctor shook his head in response to the last question. "No, no. He's _out_ of Storybrooke, but he's very much accustomed with the world that Storybrooke once used to be."

"Really?" Emma said, sounding intrigued. "How?"

"Well, because…he's from there." Mary Margaret took notice in how the Doctor began to sound unsettled from Emma's questioning.

"He's _from_ the fairy tale world, but he lives _outside_ of Storybrooke?" Emma uttered, clearly puzzled. "How is that even possible? Henry once told me that no one could ever leave Storybrooke when the curse was up." She noted the nervousness on the Doctor's face, which only made her even more curious. "Unless it's someone who never was in the fairy tale world when the curse hit."

Seeing how close she was to figuring out the truth, the Doctor sternly brought an end to her deductive reasoning. "Emma, listen to me carefully. Stop right now."

"Stop what?"

"Stop…piecing everything together. This is a puzzle that you can_not_ solve for your own sake…for Henry's."

"For Hen—?" She looked closely at him, seeing the strain from keeping what could have only been a crucially important secret. The tables had turned; she had become the overly observant one to him. "Doctor, _what_ are you hiding from me?"

"Emma." Mary Margaret softly said, seeing how assertive her daughter had become towards the Time Lord.

"Trust me, Emma. It's not worth getting deep in." The Doctor said.

"Oh, really? And your fixation on Clara is?" Emma snapped. "Why is it that when there's something _I_ want answers to, it's dangerous for me, but you get to go zooming through time and space like there aren't any consequences?" The Doctor was silent, angering Emma more. "Well, Doc, I hope for _your_ sake that whoever this guy is we're depending on _can_ get us back." He watched Emma walk out of the console room, feeling frustration over being too much of a coward to give her a direct answer when he had the chance.

With Emma gone, Mary Margaret approached the Doctor herself, only much calmer than her daughter had. "Who is this man, Doctor?"

He sighed before answering. "It's Neal Cassidy."

Mary Margaret frowned with confusion and surprise. "Emma's boyfriend? _He's_ from our world? Who was he?"

"His name was once 'Baelfire.'" He deeply stared into Mary Margaret's eyes upon adding the most shocking bit of information: "And he is the son of Rumplestiltskin."

Mary Margaret's mouth dropped as she realized what Neal Cassidy's connection to Rumplestiltskin had meant for Henry. "That means…"

The Doctor nodded, having already made the family connection himself. "Henry is the _grand_son of Rumplestiltskin." Observing how shaken Mary Margaret was, the Doctor scowled. "I can only imagine how Emma will take this news when she'll _eventually_ find out."


	45. Chapter Forty-Four

**Chapter Forty-Four: Pain in the Neck**

Neal and Gold had their three minutes to talk, but it did no good for either of them. Neal's continued animosity towards his father only pushed him further away. He wanted Gold out of his apartment, but Jack managed to convince him to stay a little longer for Henry's sake. If there was one good thing to come from all of this for Neal, it was finding out that he had a son who he could share the day with. Neal decided it was best for him and Henry to go out and grab a pizza. Jack and Gwen accompanied Neal and Henry to the location of the pizza parlor on Neal's invitation; Gold did as well, despite _not _being invited by his estranged son. When they arrived there, only Gwen went inside with Neal and Henry, while Harkness and Gold stayed outside and waited.

"It's a sad truth that the people closest to us are the ones capable of causing us the most pain." Gold told Jack. "Miss Swan would agree with me…if she were here. She's gonna be awfully despondent when she returns to her happy yet angry son."

"Give Henry some time." Jack remarked. "He'll forgive her the moment she comes back. I can only imagine how he feels – gaining one parent, but still lost with another."

Gold agreed with a nod. "Wish I could say the same for _my_ son. The two of us certainly have a long way to go." After a discouraged pause, he then requested to Harkness, "I need you to speak to him. Try and convince him to come back to Storybrooke with us."

"Whoa, whoa. I am _done_ doing any more favors today. Alright?"

"Not even if it means getting the Doctor back there?"

Jack scoffed, seeing through Gold's deception. "Nice try. Neal doesn't know any way of getting the Doctor back to Storybrooke. Believe me, I checked."

"And you _believed_ him?"

"What would he have to hide?"

"Seeing that this is the man who went through an awful lot to keep himself hidden, I'd wager that he has quite a bit to hide, Captain Harkness. If he told you that there's nothing else the Doctor told _him_, then he's fooling you."

Jack began to believe Gold's suspicion. "O.K. Say that your _wild_ paranoia is right. Why would he keep valuable information like that from me? I've known him just as long as you or anyone else has. He can trust me."

"This isn't about you, Captain. If you knew the only way to bring someone like the Doctor back to Storybrooke was by going there, knowing that it would entail bringing someone whose life you ruined eleven years ago also, would you _really_ take that type of risk?"

Harkness never considered that fact until that very moment. He sighed, irritated over the idea of Neal refusing to help bring the Doctor back to Storybrooke because of his failed relationship with Emma. It was a selfish act to Jack, who expected better from Neal. If getting the Doctor back meant getting Neal to put aside his past with Emma and see reason, then Jack knew he would have to try harder in order to do it. There was a purpose for the Doctor leading Jack to Neal in his attempt at returning to Storybrooke, and he was determined to find out how the son of Rumplestiltskin could do it.

* * *

After he and Henry had their pizza, Neal wanted to show him the Museum of Natural History but first had to go back to his apartment to retrieve his camera. On the way there, Jack took an opportunity in chatting privately with Neal while Gwen, Henry, and Gold walked a few steps ahead of them, out of earshot. He decided on a casual approach, not wanting to make it sound obvious that he was looking for answers from Neal again. "So, uh, looks like we'll be heading back home pretty soon…to _our_ home…in Storybrooke."

Neal was a bit disappointed from this. "When I'm just gettin' to know the son I never knew I had?"

"Well…maybe…you should come with us." Jack made sure the delivery in his suggestion was not too obvious.

"To Storybrooke?" Neal sounded surprised.

Jack realized at that point that the subtle approach was not working. "Look, Neal, let's just be honest here – you don't have a lot going on here in Manhattan."

"Looks can be deceiving, Captain."

"I know that you don't want to help me get the Doctor back because of Emma." This statement brought the two men to a halt just a few feet away from the entrance to Neal's apartment. Neal sighed in aggravation, expecting the subject to have come up again. "Bringing him back means bringing _her_ back and facing your past, I get that. But don't you think what's going on in Storybrooke now means more than whatever relationship you two used to have?"

Neal was about to answer him directly until Henry stepped in. "So, Neal, do you think we can take the subway to the museum?"

"Yeah, sure. Of course." Neal tried his best to sound enthusiastic for his son, but Jack could tell he was put off from their interrupted exchange. "Let's go get that camera." He shot the immortal captain a sharp look that told Jack the conversation was far from over. They followed Henry, Gwen, and Gold into the lobby of the apartment complex.

Jack and Gold waited in the lobby while the others were upstairs. "So…did you talk to him?"

"I'm working on it."

"Well, work a little harder, _Captain_ Harkness."

"Hey, if you have any suggestions, then I'd be happy to—ACK!"

Gold suddenly saw Jack's face register a look of extreme agony and surprise before the immortal fell to the ground with a loud _thud_. He saw a large gaping hole in Jack's neck, punctured by something sharp enough to tear through flesh. While Harkness lied on the floor and bled to death, Gold soon found himself face-to-face with Hook. The pirate violently shoved him against the front gate and dug his hook deep into his chest. Gold gasped from the excruciating pain.

Killian brought the blood-stained hook back out, positioning it high over his head for the killing blow. "Tick-tock. Time's up, crocodile. You took Milah…my love, my happiness. And for that, I now take your life."

_BAM!_

Before Killian could bring his hook down on Gold again, he was quickly taken down by a single bullet to his right shoulder, fired by Gwen. Hook fell away from Gold and landed hard on the floor, groaning in pain. Gwen dashed through the front gate, bypassing Gold to end Hook's suffering with a swift kick to the head, knocking the pirate out cold.

Neal, hearing the gunshot, rushed to the scene. "What the hell is going on?" Moving through the gate, he was shocked to find his gravely wounded father slumped against the bars and bleeding from his chest. "Papa?"

"This madman stormed in and attacked your dad." Gwen notified.

Looking over to the unconscious pirate, Neal recognized him instantly. "Hook."

His capability in identifying the attacker surprised Gwen. "You know him?"

"Jack!" Neal exclaimed, seeing the currently deceased body of the immortal captain lying in a pool of his own blood nearby. "Oh, damn."

"Jack will be fine, Neal. He's been through worse." Gwen assured. "We just need to get your father upstairs and away from 'Hook' right now."


	46. Chapter Forty-Five

**Chapter Forty-Five: Reaching Out**

_Riiiiiing! Riiiiiing! Riiiiiing!_

Emma awakened from the ringing of what sounded like a telephone as it echoed throughout the TARDIS. She and Mary Margaret had been sleeping in the Victorian guest bedroom that had been offered to them by the Doctor. Drowsily slipping on her jeans and going out of the room barefoot, Emma wandered the halls to find the source of the ringing. With as many rooms as there were halls in the TARDIS, Emma might as well have dedicated herself to an endless search for something that was not all that important to get her out of bed. But the ringing was torture to her, and she needed to find out where it was coming from for her own sake.

Finally, after journeying through the TARDIS for minutes, the ringing had stopped. _Somebody finally picked up the damn phone_, Emma thought in relief. She did not question who exactly answered it; all that mattered to her was going back to the bedroom and returning to her slumber. Ever since the Doctor brought them to Cumbria in 1207, Emma and Mary Margaret had not found much reason to step outside, so they both decided to spend their time in the TARDIS, which became just as boring to them. To Emma, the Doctor had reached a point in his madness over finding Clara to where there was just no convincing him to abandon the search. Making matters worse, he continued to refuse to tell her of the man who would help them return to Storybrooke. It might as well have been for the best staying inside the TARDIS, while the Doctor spent most of his time outside, living as a monk.

Trouble struck again for Emma as she now faced the challenge of backtracking her way to the bedroom. She knew better than to wander around the TARDIS alone – the last time she had, it took days (if time still existed within the TARDIS) for the Doctor and Mary Margaret just to find her. As long as she had been spending her time in the Gallifreyan time machine, there were still many places in the vast alien spaceship she had never been, and she came across them for the first time in her search for the bedroom.

A whole hour walking barefoot across the cold metal floor, Emma grew irritated. She imagined Mary Margaret waking out of bed, finding out she had gotten up earlier than her, going to the Doctor, asking if he had seen her, and both of them realizing that she was lost again. It embarrassed Emma to know that her mother could find her way to and from the main control room a lot easier than she ever could. _The TARDIS must __really __hate me_, she deduced on her way down another corridor that looked somewhat familiar.

Emma was surprised to see that she made it to the control room by accident. The Doctor was there, still in his monk garb, feverishly operating the controls. As soon as he noticed Emma there with him, he looked to her and smiled. "I found her! I found Clara!"

"Congrats." Emma satirically remarked.

The Doctor stopped his operation of the controls as soon as the TARDIS reached its new destination. "Come with me and meet her."

"Meet Clara…in 1207 Cumbria…with no shoes?"

"Well, she's not in 1207 Cumbria. She's in 2013 London. _We're_ in 2013 London."

Emma snapped out of her depression on this and grew very pleased. "R-Really? We're back to the future?" The Doctor confirmed with a nod. "That's great! There's finally Wi-Fi again! We can call Henry or David!"

The Doctor saw her heading out of the control room and quickly spoke up. "But what about Clara?"

"_You_ worry about your undead friend. _I'm_ going to call my son."

The Doctor was downhearted by Emma's refusal to join him in meeting the "new" Clara; but the feeling did not last long once he realized that he had _found_ Clara from the conversation he had with her over the police box telephone. Just as he was about to head outside, he was stopped by Emma, who had returned to the control room and shamefacedly made a request.

"Uh…anyway you could help me get back to the bedroom?"

* * *

**Manhattan**

Jack reawakened with a loud gasp; the hole in his neck had closed up, completely regenerated. The upper half of his clothes was drenched in his own blood as he lied in a pool of it for over a few minutes. Looking around to remind himself of his surroundings, he saw that he was still in the lobby of Neal's apartment. Lying unconscious near him was Hook, the one responsible for his recent death. Harkness was surprised and confused to see him there in New York, far from where he left him in Storybrooke. There was no doubt in Jack's mind that Cora was the one responsible for freeing Hook from the hospital bed that he was handcuffed to; either that, or the pirate somehow escaped through his own methods.

Not bothering to question Hook's presence there any further, Jack placed the unconscious pirate into a nearby storage room. Before locking him inside, he checked his body for any possible weapons that he had carried on him – other than his hook – and discovered a folded piece of paper. Unfolding the paper, Jack saw that it was some type of map, presumably the one that Hook used to find where he was located. Rushing upstairs to Neal's apartment room, he found Neal tending to his gravely injured father with help from Gwen.

"Jack!" Gwen exclaimed, delighted to see him alive again. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, no thanks to our stab-happy friend downstairs. I locked his ass away in a storage room. Also found a map on him. Apparently, he sailed his ship here."

"How'd he get a pirate ship into New York?" Neal asked.

"No clue." Jack answered before bringing his focus on Gold. "What happened here?"

"It was Hook." Gwen informed him. "He punctured Gold's chest."

Neal opened Gold's shirt to expose the wound and revealed some odd discoloration over it. "What the hell is that?"

"It's poison." Gold said, looking upon his wound in shock. "It's one of Hook's own making. There's no antidote in the world. It's…it's not from here."

"There's gotta be some way we can save you." Neal told his father, who appeared to be fading fast.

"There is." Gold weakly said. "There is."

Jack sighed, trying not to laugh over the irony of the situation. "Storybrooke. It's the only place where we can save him with the magic there now."

"We have to get him back then." Neal declared. "I'll get a car."

"No, no, no. We don't have time." Gold groaned. "We need something faster."

"JACK!"

The thrilled voice of Henry sounded from the next room. The rushing sounds of footsteps upon the creaky hardwood floor were heard before he appeared and approached Jack, holding up his cellphone with the biggest smile he ever had on his face. "Jack! It's Emma! She's calling me from the TARDIS! She and Mary Margaret are ready to come home!"


	47. Chapter Forty-Six

**Chapter Forty-Six: Lost Connection**

"I don't believe it! Are we _really_ going back? Back home to Storybrooke?" The excitement was clear in Mary Margaret's voice as she responded to the news of Emma's direct call to Henry.

"Looks that way." Emma remarked while they walked into the control room. "Jack says that they're Manhattan right now with Mr. Gold."

Mary Margaret grimaced in confusion and astonishment. "Manhattan? With Mr. Gold? How did _he_ manage to get out of Storybrooke?"

Emma shrugged. "You got me. I didn't bother asking Jack because I was so focused on the thought of going back. He sounded real uneasy over the phone, too, like something was wrong."

"Well, the sooner we get to Manhattan, the sooner we'll find out what it is." Mary Margaret enthusiastically said.

As the two women stepped onto the console platform, the Doctor suddenly emerged from beneath it, no longer wearing his monk garb. Emma and Mary Margaret saw that he was donned in a burgundy coat that reached mid-thigh with black shoes and pants. He also wore a new bowtie.

"Finally ditched the monk look for your friend, eh?" Emma jested.

The Doctor smiled. "Yes, I did. Because monks are _not_ cool."

"And bowties _are_, right?" Emma snickered.

"Oy! Don't get personal! I'm in too good a mood right now."

Mary Margaret giggled over the banter between him and her daughter. "Doctor, we're glad that you finally found Clara, but there's something we need you to…"

"You two have _got_ to meet her." The Doctor interrupted, acting profoundly giddy. "She looks _exactly_ the same as she did in Victorian times." He rushed to the door and stepped out in his new attire, much to the chagrin of Emma and Mary Margaret, who were forced to follow him.

The trio went to the front doorstep of Clara's home. The Doctor knocked on the door, shouting her name. "Hello?" Her voice was heard from the intercom, and the Doctor looked to the security camera, smiling.

"Clara! Look! See? Demonked! Sensible clothes!" He spun around, showing himself off. "And I brought my friends with me!" He turned to Emma and Mary Margaret and said, "Say hello to Clara."

They both waved to the camera and put on their best smiles. "Hello, Clara."

The Doctor grinned like a kid showing off his new toys. "See? Uh, can we come in now?"

"I don't understand." Clara's voice seemed strangely baffled to them.

"Could you just open the door?" The Doctor said.

"I don't know…"

"Of course, you can!" The Doctor became impatient, while Emma and Mary Margaret became confused with the young woman's behavior over the intercom.

"I don't know where I am. Where am I?"

Something was definitely wrong, and the concerned looks that Emma, Mary Margaret, and the Doctor gave each other acknowledged their awareness of it. Clara's voice grew more panicked as she repeatedly questioned her own whereabouts. Immediately, the Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver from his new coat and used it to unlock the front door, allowing him, Emma, and Mary Margaret to rush right in. They discovered Clara's unconscious body on the floor, yet they still heard her voice screaming out in terror.

"Oh, my god." Mary Margaret muttered as she caught sight of something that Emma and the Doctor hadn't upon entering the home. Hearing her gasp of surprise, they followed her gaze to see a robot that had the body of a young girl in a bright dress but a spoon-like head that projected an image of a scared Clara.

"What the hell…?" Emma uttered.

The Doctor swiftly aimed his sonic screwdriver at the abomination. The device whirred in his hand while the body of the spoon-headed being sparked and fizzed, shifting into its true skeletal and robotic form. Shocked by the menacing mechanical monster, Mary Margaret questioned, "What is it? What's it done to Clara?"

"It's a base station – a walking Wi-Fi base station, hoovering up data…hoovering up _people_!" Unsettled from this discovery, he then instructed to Emma and Mary Margaret, "Look around. Look for a laptop, computer, phone…anything that requires Wi-Fi technology."

Emma and Mary Margaret quickly did as he said. Mary Margaret searched downstairs in the kitchen and living room. The Doctor and Emma searched upstairs in the bedrooms. Emma finally discovered a medium-sized laptop in a bedroom that looked as if it belonged to a girl. She picked the laptop up from the desk and yelled, "Got it!" Handing it over to the Doctor, they returned downstairs to Clara, and the Doctor went right to work on saving her life.

The Doctor typed on the keyboard of the laptop faster than anyone Emma or Mary Margaret had ever seen. It was not humanly possible to type as fast as he did, yet they knew the Doctor was _not_ completely human. Within a matter of seconds, the Doctor canceled the spoon-headed being's upload of Clara, forcing it to shoot out a beam from its head that connected to Clara's. Once the beam dispersed, Clara was revived, coughing as she fought to breathe again.

"It's okay. It's okay. You're back." The Doctor told her, stroking her head and kissing it. "Yes, you are. Yes, you are."

Relieved that Clara was going to live, Emma glanced at the inert "spoonhead" robot. "Where does someone get the technology to 'upload' people's subconscious?"

"A better question is _who's_ behind such technology." Mary Margaret wondered.

* * *

Kizlet could not figure out who could be smart enough to reverse an upload from a server just like he or she had a moment ago. Not even Alexei could prevent it from happening, despite his efforts. She would certainly have to kill him now with such a failure on his record; but his death would have to come at a much later time. There was something happening that required _all_ members of her team, and they must look into it before it happened with any more of the people that had been uploaded.

Upon returning to her office, Kizlet was reminded of her guest – a twenty-something African American woman by the name of Tamara, who had visited the Shard for business purposes. "I'm so sorry," she told Tamara while entering. "Something has come up that requires my attention. We'll have to shelve our chat for another time. Tomorrow, perhaps?"

Tamara had been looking at the screen of her smartphone while waiting for Kizlet to return. Looking to Kizlet, she shook her head. "Sorry. Just got a text from my boyfriend. He needs me in America right away for something urgent."

"I understand." Kizlet said. "My client will be displeased to hear that you left in such a hurry. He was looking forward to speaking to you again."

Tamara smirked. "He knows how to contact me if he needs me."

The young woman got up and headed for the door. Before she departed, however, Kizlet spoke up. "Oh, Tamara? Do be careful of which connection you use on that thing, won't you? We don't want to end up accidentally taking _you_ into our collective." She gestured to the smartphone in Tamara's hand.

Tamara merely smiled from Kizlet's warning and continued her way out of her office. As she left, she dialed some numbers on her phone and placed it against her right ear. When she heard the voice of her contact, she angrily said, "Now you want to tell me what's so important that you had to tear me away from the meeting of my life?" She listened to what her contact had to say. "Why? Why are you planning on staying there longer?" A request was made from her contact and she moaned while moving the phone away from her ear and looking at the screen as a video was being sent to her. Tamara's eyes widened when the video came up. It was a live video of a woman using magic to summon objects out of a purse and have them floating in the air. Although shocked at first from this footage, Tamara was soon satisfied with it, a devilish grin emerging from her face.


	48. Chapter Forty-Seven

**Chapter Forty-Seven: Plan B**

"What do you mean it's 'not safe to call them'?" Emma queried in frustration.

"It means _exactly_ what it means, Emma!" The Doctor exclaimed while carrying the Spoonhead's robotic body out of Clara's house and towards the TARDIS. "You can't contact Henry or Jack again with the Wi-Fi interfering around us. Whatever or whomever it was that almost killed Clara could go after you, if you use the Wi-Fi from your phone."

"But she called Henry earlier when we arrived in this time." Mary Margaret informed.

The Doctor was alarmed when he was reminded of that fact. "Yes…which can only mean they have Emma under surveillance now, just like Clara."

Emma was unsettled. "You mean those spoon-head things are gonna show up and 'upload' _me_?" The worried look that the Doctor gave her was enough confirmation for her suspicions. "Then let's get out of here. Let's get _the hell_ out of here while I'm still…"

"I can't leave Clara." The Doctor said. "They may come after her again, I can't risk it"

"We take her back with us then." Emma suggested.

The Doctor frowned in confusion. "Back to Storybrooke?"

"Yes!" Emma cried in near-desperation. "She'll be safe there. Safe from whatever's tryin' to kill us." She saw the conflict the Doctor struggled over in making a decision on the matter and tried harder to persuade him. "Look, you told me that I'm the key to getting us back home. Why has that changed now?"

"Because you are not the _only_ key, Emma." The Doctor sternly alerted her.

His reply baffled Emma, but she quickly realized to _whom_ he referred. "It's him, isn't it? Your 'mystery guy' – the one who supposedly has the power to get us back." The Doctor did not say a word to acknowledge her deduction, but she knew the truth regardless. "Well, I want to know _right now_ who this guy is."

"Emma…"

"TELL ME!"

There was no use in hiding the truth from her anymore. Taking a deep breath and setting the Spoonhead robot aside, he focused directly on Emma while Mary Margaret looked on with agitation, knowing what was to come. "Alright. I'll tell you. But, before I do, you _must_ understand that your connection to this person is the _only_ way we can ever return to Storybrooke."

Emma's curiosity outweighed her frustration. "_Who_ is he?"

* * *

**Manhattan**

Neal sat close near his dying father, waiting with Jack, Henry, and Gwen for nearly an hour to hear Henry's phone ring and receive another call from Emma or even the Doctor. He began to grow impatient, seeing how much worse his father had become in the duration of time they waited. "We can't wait any longer for 'em," he finally told Jack, Gwen, and Henry. "We might as well go with Plan B."

Jack was surprised. "Uh, I might've missed a piece of an earlier conversation, but _what_ is 'Plan B'?"

"We take Hook's ship and sail our way to Storybrooke in it." Neal said. "You can still zero in on it with that thingamajig on your wrist, right?"

Harkness realized that Neal had referred to his vortex manipulator. "Yeah, but…"

"But nothin'!" Neal interrupted. "Cap, we need to get him back there right now, or else he's gonna die. You said there's magic there – let's use it while there's still a chance."

Jack sighed. He knew Neal had a point about the dying Gold, and he could never live with himself if he failed in helping save the life of not only Neal's father, but Henry's grandfather as well. There just was not enough time to wait and hear back from the Doctor, Emma, or Mary Margaret. At that point, Jack began working with the vortex manipulator. "O.K. Five to beam up, Scotty."

"_Four_, Jack." Gwen spoke up. "I won't be coming with you there."

Jack looked to her; at first, he was discouraged, but he was soon reminded of the reason. "Yeah…I can imagine how pissed Rhys would be if you left him alone in New York with a baby that cries more than _he_ does."

Gwen snickered. "I'll see you again when I know they're safe back home."

Jack acknowledged her promise with a nod and continued to dial in coordinates to the vortex manipulator while Henry approached him and asked, "What about Emma, Mary Margaret, and the Doctor?"

Harkness saw how uneasy Henry was about the decision to return to Storybrooke without the three people they fought so hard to get back. All Jack could do was shrug and tell him, "There's another way of getting them back, Henry. I know there is." He placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder and then brought it back to his vortex manipulator, dialing in the last sequence of buttons before he, Henry, Neal, and Gold all joined hands and vanished from the apartment.

After witnessing their departure, Gwen walked out through the front door. Had she stayed a little longer, she would have heard the unusual noises that accompanied the arrival of a large blue box that materialized in the living room. Once it had completely materialized, its right door suddenly flew open and Emma Swan rushed out, searching around the apartment.

"Neal? Henry? Neal? Henry?" She repeatedly called out the names of her former lover and son while searching all about the apartment, yet she discovered not a single soul was there. She returned to the TARDIS just as the Doctor and Mary Margaret had exited. She let loose her frustrations on the Doctor over missing Neal and Henry. "Why? Why did you keep this from me?"

"Because I didn't want you to find out who he _really_ was…where he really came from." The Doctor answered.

"I could've taken it!" Emma exclaimed. "How do you think I took finding out that my mother's Snow White?" She gestured to Mary Margaret to emphasize her point.

Mary Margaret saw how empty the apartment was. The only thing that remained was Gold's cane, which she walked over to and picked up, looking despondently upon it. "We're too late. They were here, and we missed them." Tears welled up in her eyes. "This was our only chance to get back home, and we _missed_ it."

"No." The Doctor uttered. "We only missed the chance of getting back the simple way. Now there's just the difficult way."

A baffled Emma cringed over his puzzling statement. "What?"

"Emma, I am so sorry that I didn't trust you with what I knew about Neal, but both you _and_ him are our only way of returning. You still love him – I know because you still wear the keychain that he gave you eleven years ago. Love is strength, Emma. You have magic that is powered by love. That's why you have that power to get us to Storybrooke. If that love is strengthened by being reminded of the one person you love the most in this world, then we have a greater chance at forcing our way back there."

Emma was left speechless from the Doctor's hypothesis, yet there was a part of it that left her unconvinced. She lightly touched Neal's keychain, which she wore as a necklace. "You're right, Doc. Love _is_ strength. But Neal's not the one person I love the most in this world or any other…especially not after what you told me about him." She snapped the necklace off from her. "I wear this as a reminder to _never_ trust anyone again." She threw the necklace aside, leaving it to join with the rest of the junk in Neal's apartment. "If all it takes for us to get back is me being reminded of who I _truly_ love, then it won't be as difficult as you think. Because the one and _only_ person I love the most in this world is my son."

The Doctor smiled. "Then let's go home, Emma Swan."


	49. Chapter Forty-Eight

**Chapter Forty-Eight: Hopeless**

It became harder and harder for Gold to breathe with Hook's poison in his system. He lied under the deck of the pirate's ship, the Jolly Roger, as it was steered by his son. He still could not figure out how Neal knew how to steer a pirate ship or how he knew so much about Hook. All of it would not matter much longer with every second he came close to death. If he was going to die there and then on the ship of his mortal enemy, which would have been a nice ironic twist, then he would just have to accept it. He only wished that he had one last chance to talk to Belle, even if she did not remember him anymore, and tell her who she used to be.

His moment of peace was disrupted by the arrival of Jack Harkness, still boasting over Gold's situation. Gold could almost swear he had been enjoying every second of him dying. "So…I just received an intriguing text from David and River. Apparently, you have a dagger hidden somewhere in Storybrooke that's the source of all your power."

Irritated by his sardonic attitude, Gold grumbled, "Get to your point, Harkness."

"Alright. Here's the situation – Cora and Regina are after your dagger. The only way to stop them is hope David and River get it first."

Gold grinned through his agony. "Let Cora and Regina try."

Jack scoffed. "Seriously? You're still playing the bad ass role in this scenario. Have you forgotten that _your_ son is coming back with us to Storybrooke? You _really _want to put him through hell on his first time there."

"Captain Harkness, that dagger has not left my possession for centuries. It's not about to now."

Jack could not believe the stubbornness of the man once known as Rumplestiltskin showed even in the face of death. "And if Cora and Regina _do_ happen to get their grubby hands on your knife? Then what happens?"

"Then I'm practically their slave." Gold established. "They can make me do anything they want."

"Like kill us all?"

Gold nodded in reply. "You're hoping I bleed to death now, aren't you?"

"Yeah…I am." Jack's cold response somewhat surprised Gold. "But letting you bleed to death wouldn't be what the Doctor want for me to do, if he were here. I'm going to save what left of a life you have, Gold…because you're Henry's grandfather. That means you're part of Emma's family, like it or not."

Gold gingerly snickered and derisively said, "Oh, I feel so reassured."

* * *

David and River arrived at the harbor in David's truck just as Jack, Neal, and Henry moved out of the cloaked Jolly Roger with the slowly dying Gold. Ruby had arrived earlier to assist in helping Neal get his dying father off the ship on David's request. As he watched David and River approach, Jack smiled – clearly pleased to see them again – and theatrically asked, "How's the fort been holding since we've been away?"

"Well, you know…other than our current problem, there was one _giant_ issue, but we took care of it with no problem." River answered.

"We're only sorry that we couldn't get the dagger before Cora and Regina did." David solemnly said.

"Don't worry about it." Jack said in assurance. "They can and _will_ be stopped."

David acknowledged his guarantee with a nod. While taking Ruby's place in assisting Gold, he focused half of his attention on Henry. "You doing okay, Henry?"

"Yeah." Henry affirmed. "I drove a ship."

"Did you now?" David said with a smile.

"Yeah, my dad showed me." Henry said, smiling at Neal.

David, seeing his son-in-law for the first time that moment, eyed him curiously. While on his way back to Storybrooke and alerting each other of their situations, Jack made sure to fill David in on the discovery of Gold's son as he turned out to be Emma's lover and Henry's father. Despite David having already known, Neal still felt it necessary to tell him. "That's me," he said with a sheepish smile. To David, it was the worst way for Neal to introduce himself to his father-in-law, yet he understood the circumstances being what they were for such a brief intro.

While setting Gold gently onto the bed of his truck, David grew cautious each moment he was close by the man. "Is Cora trying to control you with the dagger?"

"Oh, you'd know if she was, and most of you would be dead by now." Gold clarified.

"Well, then we'll just have to take the fight to her before that can happen." David boldly suggested.

As David, Neal, Ruby, and Henry tended to Gold, River pulled Jack aside for a private conversation. "Were you able to find your friend? The one who the Doctor messaged about you?"

Jack sighed. "Yeah, I did."

Noting his sigh, River inquired, "Why don't you sound so hopeful then?"

"Because we had a shot at getting the Doctor back in Manhattan before Gold started getting worse. The only actual hope we have now is Gold's son over there, and I don't think he's willing to help any because of his past with Emma."

This news displeased River. "Then why aren't you trying harder to get him to, Jack? You have no idea what we've been through here while you were away in Manhattan. A woman was _killed_ – someone very dear to Snow. We are at war now. None of us will be able to stop Cora without the Doctor and Emma here with us. We are _hopeless_."

Jack felt his stomach turn hearing River utter that last word. It occurred to him that the promises he gave to Gold and Henry might as well have been empty ones. He had no idea how he would get the Doctor back, even if he was able to convince Neal to help him, and he did not know how he planned on saving Gold's life. Harkness was not even certain if Gold himself knew of any way to save himself, which made their situation even more "hopeless."

And that was when Jack and everyone else there at the harbor heard a familiar sound that gave them all hope again…

_VWOORMP! VWOORMP! VWOORMP!_

Sure enough, the TARDIS was materializing there at the harbor, not far from where David's truck was parked. However, the materialization process was slow and out of sync. Only parts of the familiar shape of a police box faded in and out. After some time, a golden hue outlined its fading shape as if to keep its materializing under control. Whatever the golden energy was appeared to have worked – the TARDIS finally and completely materialized into solid form.

Everyone, except for Gold, looked on with smiles as three recognizable characters exited from the blue box – the Doctor, Emma, and Mary Margaret. Hope had risen as the three lost residents of Storybrooke had finally returned to the town, and at not a moment too soon.


	50. Chapter Forty-Nine

**Chapter Forty-Nine: This Means War**

"Wow." Neal whispered as he stood in the TARDIS control room for the first time his whole life. When he last saw the blue box, he imagined it was just as small on the inside as it was on the outside. Seeing how much _bigger_ it was on the inside, he was amused to realize how wrong he was upon standing inside of it with Emma, Henry, David, Gold, Ruby, Jack, and the Doctor – all of whom there was enough room for in the alien spaceship/time machine.

Even Jack was impressed with the new interior design of the console room. "Nice to see the 'playhouse' look has been ditched."

The Doctor was shocked by Jack's statement. "Playhouse? The TARDIS never looked like a 'playhouse.'"

Emma smirked. "Actually, Doc…it kinda did."

The Doctor looked to be biting his tongue, trying to keep from telling his two biggest "critics" off while operating the TARDIS controls. Playful criticism aside, he was delighted of the fact that he, Emma, and Mary Margaret were finally back in Storybrooke. Unfortunately, the happy reunion was disrupted by the fact that Gold was dying and needed to be returned to his shop – where his magic was – before it was too late to save him. While everyone was in the control room, River had taken Mary Margaret elsewhere in the TARDIS to discuss something that involved their other matter with Cora and Regina – something that was undoubtedly going to be devastating to her.

Meanwhile, after Neal's fascination over the TARDIS, he finally found the courage to talk to the woman he had not seen for eleven years. "Hey, Emma."

Emma slowly turned to him, feeling a bit awkward speaking to him under such circumstances. "Hey yourself." Henry stood in between her and his father, looking on with interest.

There was a moment of silence between them until Neal managed to say, "I, uh, I guess there's a lot about myself I need to exp—"

"The Doc told me everything."

Neal seemed a bit relieved. "He…he did? And y-you're not upset?"

"Oh, no, I'm pretty pissed at you right now." Emma admitted. "But the only reason I'm not unleashing my fury upon you is because of your father's current condition…and because of Henry." She looked down at her son whilst acknowledging his presence. "Kid, I'm so sorry for lying to you. It's been tearing me apart since…"

"It's O.K., Emma." Henry said. "I'm just glad to have you back in Storybrooke."

Emma was touched from his words, which had taken a massive weight of guilt off her shoulders. Nearby, the Doctor looked in on their conversation and smiled, happy to see that he managed to reunite the mother and her son.

"John?"

He suddenly heard the voice of Ruby, who stood close by him at the controls. "Hello, Ruby," he said to the woman he had not seen for almost an eternity. Just as awkward as the reunion between Neal and Emma was, the one between the Doctor and Ruby was just as much so. The Doctor circled around the control console, not once looking at her, and she continued following him, sensing something wrong.

"I'm so glad to see you again," she affectionately said.

"Yes." The Doctor indifferently remarked.

Ruby frowned – something was _definitely_ different about him. "Did you miss _me_, John?"

The Doctor did not respond; instead, he yanked on a lever from the controls that sent a slight tremor over the TARDIS and rattled everyone inside. Needless to say, the dying Gold was not very pleased with what happened. "Would it be too much trouble to keep this infernal machine steady?"

"Yes. Yes. Sorry. My bad." The Doctor said. "We've arrived in your shop."

"Then let me the hell out of here _now_." Gold furiously demanded, and he was immediately helped to his feet by David and Neal, who then brought him through the front doors. Emma, Henry, and Jack followed them out afterward, leaving only Ruby and the Doctor in the control room.

"John, we need to talk," she urgently told him.

"Yes, Ruby. You're right. We _do_ need to talk." The Doctor said, finally looking at her. "But it'll have to wait. Just…let me talk care of things here. Wait for me, okay?" He then left her inside the TARDIS, moving out into the atmosphere of Gold's shop to follow the others into the back of the store. While Gold was placed onto a bed, the Doctor immediately went to work, giving out orders. "Alright. First thing's first. Henry, I need you to go back into the TARDIS where it's safe." He did as the Doctor instructed and departed from the back of the store. "Now, Emma, Gold has a large jar that _looks_ empty but has some invisible chalk inside. Get it."

A baffled Emma left to search for the item. Meanwhile, Gold was startled to discover the Doctor's awareness of the magical object. "Just how do you know about that chalk, Doctor?"

Approaching Gold, the Doctor removed his sonic screwdriver from his coat and scanned Gold with it. "I know _everything_ you have in this little shop of horrors, Gold. When magic returned to this town, the magic of everything in this shop did as well, which makes you just as much of a menace as Cora herself."

Gold slapped the hand that held the Doctor's whirring alien tool away from him. "You know _nothing_ about Cora."

The Doctor glared. "No…but she does know about _me_."

Emma returned with the jar in her hands. Through the naked eye, it appeared empty; but, as Emma discovered upon reaching it and taking out the invisible chalk, appearances were deceiving. "Unbelievable! It really is invisible!"

"Yeeees!" The Doctor excitedly exclaimed. "Now use it in the front doorway to draw a line."

"What is an invisible line going to do?" Emma curiously inquired.

"Nothing until you cast a protection spell." The Doctor said.

Emma rapidly blinked in daunted disbelief. "I'm gonna do _what_?"

"I'll explain later." The Doctor assured. "Just draw the line at the front doorway."

Emma departed from the backroom once again. Meanwhile, David approached and asked, "Doctor, what do you want the rest of us to do?"

"Prepare yourselves." The Doctor instructed. "If Cora and Regina have Gold's dagger as we speak, they will be here within moments." His command was immediately carried out by David, Neal, and Jack. The three men left the backroom, while the Doctor continued standing by Gold.

"Acting like a true war general, aren't you?" Gold humorously questioned to the Time Lord.

"I've been through war before."

"Ah, yes. Back in the Enchanted Forest when you gallantly helped Snow White rescue Prince Charming. A _failed_ rescue, I might add."

"No, Gold. I mean _another_ war – one I was involved in long before I ever came to Storybrooke or the land it once was. The Last Great Time War."

Gold chuckled. "Sounds more ridiculous than the Ogre Wars."

The Doctor smirked. "All wars are ridiculous, Gold…even this one. But it's the experience that makes the ridiculousness worth it."

"I beg to differ, Doctor."

"Yeah, you would. You never did experience war like I had, because _you_ ran from yours. In my journeys through your world, before my memory was wiped by Regina, I heard your story across many lands. The coward who broke his own leg just to escape the horrors of the Ogre Wars. Tell me, Gold…was _that_ worth it?"

"SHUT UP!" Gold roared with fury. "Shut up, and leave me alone!"

The Doctor looked upon the dying man as he lied back in his bed, exhausted from anger and pain. The Time Lord then left the backroom, joining the others at the front of the store. Emma had finished drawing the invisible line at the doorway. "Alright. I _guess_ it's done. Now what, Doc? I mean, I can't really cast a spell. I can _spell_ 'spell.'"

"You can, Emma. The same way you were able to bring us and the TARDIS back to Storybrooke." The Doctor said.

"You mean by my emotions, right?" Emma queried.

"Yes." The Doctor affirmed. "You can do this, Emma. I trust you."

Emma nodded and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. Within seconds, she felt the magic rushing through her, just like it had earlier within the TARDIS. In her mind's eye, she saw an invisible force field spreading from the front door to all sides of the shop's exterior. A cool breeze rushed past her lastly, and she reopened her eyes, smiling. The Doctor smiled as well, seeing her satisfaction over using magic. "Think I'm getting the hang of this," she said. "Thanks, Doc."

Just then, they heard the door to the TARDIS open. Turning to see who exited out of the blue box, they saw Mary Margaret. There was a look of depression on her face. Her eyes were very red, and her cheeks were wet from her own tears. She briskly walked past everyone, including David, who tried to talk to her but was quickly shunned by her as she headed into the backroom and joined Gold. Puzzled from her behavior, everyone looked to each other, wondering what happened.

River was soon spotted coming out of the TARDIS herself, and David did not hesitate in drilling her with questions. "River, what did you say to Mary Margaret?"

"I told her about Johanna." River said.

"You had no right to do that, especially not now of all times!" David bellowed.

"She needed to know, David!" River yelled back.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Emma shouted over them. "What the hell's going on?"

David calmed himself down to explain. "When we found Gold's dagger in the clock tower, Cora and Regina used Johanna as leverage in getting it from us. They knew how precious she was to Mary Margaret, who is precious to me, so we had to give the dagger to them in exchange for Johanna."

"But it was a fruitless effort." River said. "Cora killed Johanna…threw her out of the clock tower like she was nothing."

"Oh, my god." Emma uttered in shock.

The Doctor grimaced in anger on the news of the death that occurred in his absence. "No more killing will happen in this town today. Cora's wrath ends here."

Subsequent to the Time Lord's declaration, the group felt a large tremor come over the shop, almost knocking them to their feet. "It's them," deduced David. "Cora and Regina. They're here."


	51. Chapter Fifty

**Chapter Fifty: A Great Loss**

The front door of Gold's shop flew open from the enormous fireball unleashed by the combined forces of Regina and Cora. The two women stormed in afterward, and they were greeted by the sight of the Doctor, who stood before them, armed only with his sonic screwdriver – which did not pose enough as a threat to them. The people behind him, however, brandished swords, an alien handgun, and a revolver. Jack, David, Emma, River, and Neal were all prepared for a battle, whilst the Doctor had hoped for negotiation.

"So this is the all-powerful 'Doctor' I've heard so much about." Cora said upon eyeing the Time Lord. "From all of the stories about you, I expected to meet a warrior – but you're not even armed."

The Doctor's eyes darted from Cora over to Regina. She looked very unhinged, due to all the memories of his long, ancient life in her mind. "Regina, I know the mental torture you're going through. I can sense it in you at this very moment. I can help you, if you and your mother turn away now and leave Rumplestiltskin alone."

"That's _not_ going to happen!" Regina snapped.

"You're going to cure my daughter of the spell you placed on her…or _you_ will die also, Doctor." Cora threatened.

"Killing me won't do you a lick of good." The Doctor pointed out.

Cora nodded, considering his logic. "You're right. I suppose that I'll just make you _suffer_ into doing what we wish."

Regina conjured a fireball in her hand that she hurled in the Doctor's direction. David immediately stepped and blocked the attack with his sword. Before he could have made another move, Regina used her magic to send both him and the Doctor out through the front door, closing it shut subsequently. Regina and Cora then proceeded in unleashing their wrath on Jack, Neal, River, and Emma.

River fired a laser blast from her alien handgun, but Cora deflected the blast with ease. She conjured the handgun out of River's grasp, bringing it into her own hands to stare in amusement over it. "This weapon is not even of _this_ world." She then looked to River and asked, "You're not from here, are you?"

"You're about to find out!" River bellowed before charging her away towards Cora, only to have been flicked away by her magic. Her body smacked hard against a shelf full of valuables that shattered from the impact. River was knocked out cold from the attack, leaving Jack, Neal, and Emma the only ones to fend off against Cora and her daughter.

Jack opened fire on Cora, but she teleported in a puff of purple smoke before any of the bullets could have connected. In the haste of her teleportation, she dropped Gold's dagger, leaving it vulnerable on the floor. Harkness could not detect where Cora ended up within the shop until she appeared directly in front of him. He attempted to take another shot at her; unfortunately, she knocked the revolver out of his hands. Before Jack could have even saw it coming, Cora had her hand deep within his chest. He gasped from the discomforting sensation of her ice-cold hand buried under his flesh and grasping his heart. When her hand came back out, Jack's heart was there in it, glowing bright red.

During Jack and Cora's confrontation, Emma and Neal had been thrown off course by Regina, who summoned many wicked spells to subdue them. After being knocked away from her, Neal realized that his father's dagger was out of Cora's possession. With Emma being choked by Regina and Jack at Cora's mercy, Neal acted fast. "Hey!" He shouted, garnering Regina and Cora's attention. "Lost something?" He gestured to the dagger, which Cora seemed surprised to discover that she had dropped.

With Regina distracted by Neal, Emma found the opportunity in taking her by surprise, grabbing an antique knife lying nearby on the counter and holding it at Regina's neck while pinning down her arms. Cora discovered her daughter's life in danger and suddenly realized that she was left to make a choice: the dagger or Regina.

Neal grinned, seeing that he had the witch right where he wanted her. "What's it gonna be?"

"Mother!" Regina cried.

"Choose wisely." Neal warned Cora.

Cora looked back and forth between her endangered daughter and the dagger. She then gazed upon Jack's heart, gripped slightly in her hand, and she smiled. "I would rather go with the _third _choice." Cora squeezed hard on the heart, and Jack screamed in pain. She saw her action distract Emma and Neal long enough for her to summon the dagger back into her other hand. Within seconds, Jack's heart crumpled to dust that she scattered to the floor.

Angered from Cora's actions, Emma hurled Regina at her, causing both women to collapse over a glass counter. While Cora and Regina were down, Emma and Neal rushed to Jack, who had slumped to the floor – surprisingly still alive yet very weak. "No, don't worry about me," he told them. "Fall back to Gold."

"We can't leave you here." Emma refused.

"Yeah, not with them." Neal added, nodding to Cora and Regina, who started getting up from behind the counter.

"What can they do to _me_? I can't die, remember?" Jack said with a confident smile.

Emma and Neal accepted his reasoning with a nod and then headed to the backroom. On their way in, Emma drew an invisible line at the doorway, creating another force field to block Cora and Regina's way in. The two women realized this as they got to their feet. "Help me take out Rumplestiltskin," Cora requested of her daughter, "and then we'll go back…" She stopped as soon as she felt unbalanced – an unsettling sensation coming upon her chest.

Seeing how traumatized her mother was, Regina grew heavily concerned. "Mother, what is it?"

"My…My heart," she said, breathing heavily. "It's with my things in your vault. Someone's there."

"Mother…"

"Go. GO!"

Regina was immediately out the back door of the shop on her mother's request. Cora's hand went to her chest; there was a feeling of uncertainty in her that her daughter would succeed in reaching the vault before the intruder could have gotten away with her heart. She wanted to regret ever removing it from her body so long ago, when she had to set aside love for obtaining the power she deserved to have. It was the reason she was prepared to kill Rumplestiltskin, the only man she truly ever loved and taught her all that she knew about dark magic. Without her love for him, the task would be quick and simple.

"You really think you're going to win, don't you?"

Cora heard Jack's weakening voice and was amazed to see him still functioning without a heart beating in his chest. "Yes, I do."

Jack lightly chuckled. "Well, I've got news for you. There's a saying in these parts: 'Good _Always_ Wins.' And, lady, you're everything _but_ good."

Cora smirked. "Bold words coming from a dying man."

Harkness laughed and coughed. "You think a little magic is gonna put me out?"

"That 'little' magic is what's keeping you alive long enough to watch your own body deteriorate, Captain." She glanced towards his body and smiled. "You see? It's already started."

Jack frowned and followed her gaze, seeing what she saw: the flesh from his right hand was thinning until it had turned completely skeletal. He felt the rest of his body doing the same, from his feet to his face. It had gotten harder and harder for him to breathe as his remaining organs dried out, feeling as if they were turning to ash. Jack Harkness, once the "immortal captain," was dying for good this time.

"It appears whatever magic that made you what you were has been overpowered by _my_ magic, Captain. Good _doesn't_ always win."

She left Jack to continue deteriorating and focused on getting through Emma's force field, reaching out and using her powerful magic to tear through it.


	52. Chapter Fifty-One

**Chapter Fifty-One: The Price of Magic**

David awoke to a buzzing noise that he believed to have come from the mild head trauma he sustained while being hurled out of the shop by Regina. He was thankful to see, after regaining some focus in his vision, that it was just the Doctor attempting to reopen the locked front door. The futile attempts led to the Time Lord screaming at his alien tool. "You can't do wood, now you can't do magic! What good are you to me?"

David carefully sat up, trying to regain his bearings. "Cora locked us out?"

"It would appear that way." The Doctor confirmed, aiming the sonic screwdriver at the lock, trying several times to get it open, only for the sonic screwdriver to give a dull, negative buzz to signify that it could not do the deed.

"Maybe that's for the best." David said. "If Cora and Regina are still in there, it's a sure bet either one of them will be ready for us to come in, so they can have another shot." He reached into the right pocket of his jacket, pulling out his phone. "I'm going to call Emma. Hope she and Neal are still O.K. with River and Jack." He was about to dial in the number until he received on a prompt on the phone, suggesting a free, "unlimited" Wi-Fi network. The odd prompt could not have come at a worse time with their current situation. David instinctively accepted the offer and continued his original task of contacting his daughter.

* * *

**London**

"David Nolan. Not much information on this one. In fact, his exact location comes up as 'unknown' on the computer." Alexei alerted this information to Kizlet immediately as it came upon his computer screen. "We got a lock on him as soon as he accepted the advertisement on his phone."

"Is he located here in the city?" Kizlet questioned.

"No, ma'am. He's American." Alexei notified. "The computer traces the call directly from somewhere in Maine, although the precise location doesn't show up."

"Pull up the audio." Kizlet ordered. "Perhaps we can get more from his call."

Alexei did as he was ordered and typed on his keyboard, entering the command on the computer that brought up the audio. David's voice was instantly heard from the monitor's speakers. "Emma, are you safe?"

"For now. I got the spell up in the backroom."

"Is Mary Margaret okay?"

"She's not with you and the Doctor?"

"No. Where the hell is she?"

Kizlet's ears flared upon hearing one crucial bit of information from David Nolan's call. In a stern tone of voice, she instructed Alexei, "Keep tracing that call. Find out the _exact_ location and alert me when you've found where David Nolan is."

"You don't want me to upload him, ma'am?"

"No. Not just yet."

Kizlet left Alexei's station and returned to her office, from where she activated a large, wall-mounted touchscreen to contact her client. Her face lit up from the bright screen as the face of her client came upon it. "Sir. The one you told me about. We've found him. We've found the Doctor."

* * *

**Storybrooke**

"If Mary Margaret's not in the shop with them, then where can she be?" David wondered aloud.

After struggling to open the front door for several minutes, the Doctor finally gave up trying and focused on David. "Think, David. Think like Mary Margaret. If you found out that someone you cared about – someone from your past, someone who represented the happiness of your childhood before it was torn away – was killed, what would be the first thing you do?"

David thought hard; his face eventually lit up with disturbing revelation. "I'd find a way to get my revenge." He then shook his head, refuting the idea that struck his mind. "But…no…Mary Margaret…she's _not_ that…she's pure and…"

"She's not the same woman right now. She realizes how dangerous Cora is _alive_. She's finding a weakness of hers – anything to use to end her. And where is the one other place here in Storybrooke to use magic against Regina or her mother?"

Following on the Doctor's plausible claim, David finally realized exactly where his wife currently was in the town. Without saying another word, he ran away from the shop, leaving the Doctor to continue standing by the locked front door. As he gazed exhaustedly at it, he was soon reminded of the other entrance – the side entrance. He figured that it was the only door untouched by Cora's magic, or he at least hoped that it had not been. Quickly, he rushed to the side of the shop, coming upon the door and opening it with his sonic screwdriver. The Doctor rushed right in and was horrified by the sight that greeted him in…

On the floor, right in front of the Doctor, were piles of ashes and the World War II clothes of Jack Harkness. _No, it can't be_, he thought in horror as he went to the ashes and scanned them. The readings on his sonic screwdriver clarified what he feared – they _were_ Jack's ashes. The Doctor's body grew tense. He did not think it could ever happen to Jack of all people. But it _did_ happen. Cora managed to do the unthinkable – permanently end the life of Captain Jack Harkness…and she was nowhere to be seen in the room to admire her handiwork.

In his mourning of Jack, the Doctor heard the side door of the shop open and turned to find Regina rushing in with a small box in hand. She stopped as soon as she saw the Doctor in her way. The Doctor did not say a word to her; he only gazed at the box she carried on her way in. "You want it to be all over? You want to make peace? Well, here it is, Doctor." Regina said. "The _one_ thing that will help bring my mother at ease…and get Henry back to me. I do this, and things will start getting better again. I'll get my life back."

The Doctor still did not say a word; he did not ask what was in the box, even though he had a good idea. He stepped aside, allowing Regina to rush past him and head to the backroom, where Cora possibly was, relishing over killing Rumplestiltskin and becoming the new Dark One. None of it seemed to have mattered to the Doctor, who was downhearted from the loss of his great friend. He was soon snapped out of his despair when he heard a woman coughing nearby. Checking the section of the shop where she had coughed from, he found River, shaken from her battle with Cora but otherwise unharmed.

Once she saw the Doctor before her, River softly smiled. "What took you so long, sweetie?" The seriousness on his face jogged her memory of the events that unfolded before she dropped into unconsciousness. "Oh, god! Cora!"

"It no longer matters now." The Doctor dejectedly said.

His words surprised her. "What do you mean? This isn't over. We can still stop…" She noticed how sad he was. It was not sadness from believing he lost to Cora. It was the same type of sadness he showed when he lost someone dear to him, just like Amy and Rory. "What is it, Doctor? What's wrong?"

The Doctor was speechless, which encouraged River to get to her feet and see the aftermath of the battle with Cora. It did in fact look like an intense battle was unleashed there in Gold's shop – many broken antiques, broken glass from the shattered counters, and some of the weapons used scattered across the floor. But it was the image of Jack's clothes with his remains covering them that horrified River.

"Jack." She whispered, too stunned to speak any louder. "What happened?"

It took every ounce of the Doctor to compose himself. "Cora. Cora is what happened."

River was flooded with rage. "That woman has taken too many lives. We have to finish her." She looked to the Doctor, who could not turn away from Jack's remains. "Did you hear me? We can't allow this woman to live any longer, Doctor. You can't reason with her. Especially not when she wants you dead."

The Doctor knew that River was right. What Cora had done to Jack was unforgiveable, and she needed to pay for it. However, there was always going to be a sense of ethics in him. In killing Cora, he would have also taken away the one bit of happiness Regina had left, thus returning her to the evil queen that she had become legend for. If Regina did in fact carry Cora's heart – which he deduced was in the box that she brought back with her – then perhaps there would be no need for revenge. He knew that letting her live a happy life with Regina would not bring Jack Harkness back, but neither would killing her.

"Mother!"

The cry came from the backroom, and it was from Regina. Shortly thereafter, David and Mary Margaret returned. Mary Margaret in particular looked panicked and guilty to the Doctor. On the verge of tears, she told him, "I'm sorry."

The Doctor eyed her suspiciously. "What did you do?"

She gave him no response, prompting him to dash to the backroom and find a scene just as worse as the one in the other room: Regina, on the floor, cradling her dead mother in her arms. Standing over them was a fully-healed Gold with his dagger back in his possession. River, David, and Mary Margaret followed the Doctor in. Hearing all of their footsteps, Regina looked up with reddened, furious eyes that were directed acutely at Mary Margaret.

"You did this."


	53. Chapter Fifty-Two

**Chapter Fifty-Two: The First Arrival**

**Storybrooke – 1983**

Regina had won. She finally took away the happy ending that belonged to Snow White and her Prince Charming, taking them to someplace "horrible," just like she told them that she would. She woke up that morning in a new home with a new life, new memories, new hair, new clothes, and a new town that she ruled as its mayor. As soon as she got dressed, she just had to step out of her new home and take a look at her creation. According to her new memories, this new town – created from the curse – was known as "Storybrooke." It was a cute name (_too_ cute for her taste) but it was good enough to mock all of the people she had sworn to ruin without them realizing it.

Strolling down the sidewalk, she was amused from the first thing she had seen – Rumplestiltskin in a fancy suit and cane, hobbling down the sidewalk across the street. He was a typical human man whose name was "Gold" from what Regina knew of him in this new world. He walked past Geppetto, whose new Storybrooke identity had become "Marco" (the town's repairman), as he was situated on a ladder and fixing a sign. Along her way down the sidewalk, she crossed a dinky diner; out in front of it were Red and Granny. Although Granny was still "Granny" but with a completely different persona, Red had become a scantily-clad girl with heavy makeup and went by the name "Ruby."

"I cannot believe you put me on the early shift." Ruby yelled to her grandmother as she put out the "open" sign near the diner entrance.

"Not my fault you stayed out all night." Granny criticized her. "When I put 'over easy' on the menu, I was talking about the eggs!"

Regina tried not to laugh as she passed the two, who had become completely dysfunctional in this new world of hers. She was then taken by surprise from the emergence of the man who was once the cricket known as "Jiminy." He walked his new pet Dalmatian, Pongo, down the street corner and looked happily to Regina. "Morning, Madame Mayor."

"Good morning, crick—" Regina stopped herself, realizing that she needed to call him by a more appropriate moniker for his new identity. "Dr. Hopper."

"Archie Hopper" smiled. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

"Yes. Yes, it is."

Regina beamed with satisfaction. This new town, Storybrooke, was a dream come true for her, while it was a nightmare for every single one of her enemies. There was just one person whose life she had to see for herself – to ensure that this new world was certainly a curse for her to torment again and again. She quickened her pace down the sidewalk, wanting to reach the school as soon as possible. In her haste, she bumped into a couple – a man and a woman – that rounded a corner and walked directly into her.

"I'm sorry. I'm _so_ sorry," said the man, who spoke with an English accent and was tall with a slim frame, finely boned hands and face, dark brown hair with sideburns, pale skin, and dark brown eyes. He wore a dark brown suit with blue pinstripes and a tie, along with a light brown overcoat and white trainers. "No harm done, eh?"

Regina eyed the tall Englishman with fiery eyes. "Not this time, but the _next_ time perhaps. So I'd suggest you watch where you're going."

"Oi!" The Englishman's companion – a short young English blonde wearing a pink hoodie and blue jeans – spoke up in the defense of her friend. "No need to be rude. He said he was sorry."

"Yes, I heard." Regina snapped. "And _I_ said he needs to be more careful next time…that goes for you as well, young lady."

The young blonde was clearly offended. "Just who the hell are you anyway?"

"I'm the mayor of this town." Regina then looked at the couple strangely. "Come to think of it. I don't believe I've ever seen either of you in Storybrooke before."

"Oh, that's because we just arrived…_well_, more like stumbled in, actually." The tall Englishman explained. He gestured to his young friend, introducing her. "This is Rose." He then stuck his hand out to Regina, introducing himself. "I'm the Doctor."

Regina's eyes grew wide in shock as she gazed upon the Englishman, who bore the name of the man she had sworn to have ridden herself of back in the land before Storybrooke. He did not look a thing like the Doctor she knew, yet somehow she knew it was the same man. A searing pain suddenly shot through her temples, and she gasped from the discomfort. The Doctor and Rose jumped in surprise upon witnessing her pain.

"Are you alright?" Rose questioned. Even though Regina had given her and the Doctor a hard time just a short moment ago, she still showed concern for the woman as she appeared to be in anguish. "Do you need help?"

"No!" Regina shouted, loud enough for only a few bystanders to hear her and look on in alarm. "Just…Just leave me alone!" She pushed her way past Rose and the Doctor, nearly knocking the both of them off their feet, as she ran down the sidewalk and disappeared around the corner.

Rose watched Regina depart, feeling odd about the whole encounter. "_That_ was the mayor of this town?"

"Seems like she's got a lot on her mind." The Doctor jested.

Rose laughed. "She is so crossed, that one. You'd think she'd have better manners than that, if she's runnin' this town."

"Speaking of 'this town,' where on Earth are we?" The Doctor questioned.

Rose was baffled from his question. "Looks like _Earth_ to me."

"I know, but there's something _wrong_ about it. Don't you sense it?" He saw her shake her head in reply. "It's just me then – it's _always_ just me. Why is that? No one can ever share the same feelings I do. It's _aggravating_!"

"You're losing focus again, you know."

"Yes. Right. This town. There's something fluctuating – a dimensional shift between time and space. The last time I've ever sensed a shift this heavy was…" The Doctor stopped and stared at the buildings and the people around him, eyeing each and every one of them with incredulity. "My home."

Rose saw how much he stared off into space as if he had flashed back to a period in his long, ancient life. "Doctor?"

"Excuse me." A voice outside their party spoke out – it was enough for the Doctor to snap out of his trance and turn with Rose to see a man and his son approach them. "Uh, sorry to bother, but…uh…maybe you two can tell us where we are. My son and I drove through here yesterday and there was nothing here…just trees and maybe a few lakes – that's it."

Rose was enthralled to hear this. "Nothing at all? You mean this town wasn't even here the day before?"

The man shook his head. "No. It's just like…"

"Someone dropped a town right on top of you?" The Doctor finished the man's statement, having the same idea.

"Yeah." The man seemed relieved to find someone who had the same thought as him, almost thinking he had gone crazy. "You two aren't from here either, are you?"

Rose shook her head. "No. We just showed up here today. Same as you. I'm Rose and this is the Doctor."

"Doctor who?" The man's son asked.

"Just the Doctor – that's all." The Doctor stated.

"But that doesn't make any sense." The boy said with a smile. "You got to be a doctor of _something_."

The Doctor smiled back at him. "Oh, I'm a doctor of _everything_. That's why I'm the Doctor." He winked, making the boy giggle. "What's your name?"

"Owen. Owen Flynn."

Owen's father then stepped forward, offering his hand to Rose and the Doctor. "And I'm Kurt, his father."

The Doctor shook Kurt's hand. "_Well_, Kurt, this might sound weird coming from a fellow tourist, but…" He thought back on the earlier encounter with the mayor, Regina, and reminded himself of the town's name. "Welcome to Storybrooke."


	54. Chapter Fifty-Three

**Chapter Fifty-Three: Goodbye and Hello**

**Storybrooke – Present Day**

Mary Margaret lied still in her bed, staring at a single spot for the past hours. She was wracked with immense guilt over what she had done to Cora…what she had done to Regina as a result. Cora was dead because of her; and while many were overjoyed and hailed Mary Margaret as a hero, she could not see it for herself. The only one who was not praising her on doing the deed was the Doctor, who had spent many hours in solitude within the TARDIS. Of course, the others justified his distance from Mary Margaret as his mourning over the death of Jack Harkness, but she knew the truth as she saw it.

David attempted to get Mary Margaret to eat something, seeing that she had not eaten for the hours that had passed since Cora's demise. Meanwhile, Emma kept watch from the kitchen window to see if the Doctor would step out of the TARDIS at any time from the street corner below. Neither Mary Margaret nor the Doctor did what David and Emma hoped for them to do. They returned to Henry, who had been sitting in the kitchen, having his breakfast.

"Anything from the Doctor?" David asked.

Emma shook her head. "Anything from Mary Margaret?"

David sighed. "She won't even eat."

Seeing how the two reacted to the behaviors of Mary Margaret and the Doctor, Henry seemed confused and a bit curious. "What's wrong with them? I mean, I get that the Doctor's sad about Jack – I am, too; but, ever since Cora died, they've both been acting weird towards each other."

Emma wanted to lie to Henry and tell him that nothing was wrong – that Mary Margaret was just sick and the Doctor needed some time alone. But she could not bring herself to lie to him again, especially not after he knew she lied about Neal. Looking to David, she admitted, "He deserves to know the truth."

"Emma…" David said with caution.

"Know the truth about what?" Henry asked, even more curious.

"Here's the thing, Henry." Emma began. "Cora's death…Mary Margaret was partially responsible for it, and that's why she's so upset…why the Doctor's so upset with _her_."

Henry shook his head. "No. No, no, she couldn't."

"She was trying to protect us." Emma justified.

"But she's Snow White." Henry contradicted. "She wouldn't hurt anybody."

There was a knock at the door and David went to answer it. Opening it, he was surprised to have seen River standing there with an urn in hand. "River. You showed up at just the right time. We were just talking about…"

"What happened with Cora…I know." River said. "It's impacted us all greatly – the Doctor more than the rest of us."

"Have you heard anything from him?" Emma inquired, approaching her with Henry at her side.

River sadly nodded. "I have…and I'm sorry to say that the two of us have reached an agreement on me being here in Storybrooke. I'm leaving today…here and now."

This news shocked and baffled David, Emma, and Henry. "What? Why? How come you're leaving? _Why_ are you leaving?" They all asked their questions in such disarray that River could barely keep up with what they were all saying.

"It's for the best." River managed to say over them.

"It's _his_ idea for you to leave, isn't it?" Emma said in anger, clearly referring to the Doctor. "He's shutting you out, just like he's shutting the rest of us out."

"He's _not_ shutting anyone out, Emma." River defended. "He's lost a friend – someone he had known longer than any of us…nearly as long as he had known Amy and Rory." She looked down at the urn in her hands, sighing. "That type of loss…well…you all have seen what it does to him. He needs time to find himself again…find his purpose in being who he is and doing what he does. He _won't_ abandon any of you; he knows what that will do now. Just…give him some time to grieve."

Mary Margaret heard every word that River had said from her bed, and tears streamed from her eyes as her guilt deepened, believing that she was responsible for putting the Doctor back into his depression.

David sighed; he was not happy over the thought of River leaving Storybrooke, but he understood nonetheless. "Where will you go?"

"Well, first I have to leave Jack's remains with his friend in New York. She won't be very pleased to know of what happened, but the Doctor assures me that she'll know what to do with them. And then I go back to being a professor in my own timeline. I'll one day travel with the Doctor again, don't worry. There's plenty more journeys for us to come. That's why I must leave now – to ensure those times _will_ happen."

Emma nodded and smirked. "Time travel. I get it. He's your past…"

"…and I'm his future." River finished with a smile.

"Will we ever see you again, River?" Henry asked with a hopeful look.

"Of course you will, sweetie. And you'll _always_ have something to remember me by until then."

Henry immediately knew the item that she spoke of and was surprised from a new memory that had come to him. "My book! I-It was you! _You_ were the one who gave it to me!"

"Time travel really is a funny thing, isn't it? You catch on quick, just like your mother." In referencing Emma, River looked to her. "Promise me that you'll always stay with the Doctor, darling. Never let him be alone."

Emma acknowledged with a nod while her thoughts rested on one particular visitor that the Doctor brought back to Storybrooke along with her and Mary Margaret. "I don't think that will be much of a problem."

Feeling assured, River fiddled with her vortex manipulator, dialing in some coordinates. She took one last look at David, Emma, and Henry. A tear fell from her left eye as she smiled and pressed one last button to teleport her away in a brief flash of light. With River's departure from Storybrooke, David began to close the door. However, before it was completely shut, something – or someone – suddenly held it back, prompting David to open it again.

It was Gold.

"A minute of your time, if it's not too much trouble. I believe you're gonna want to hear what I have to say for the sake of Mary Margaret."

* * *

Clara awakened to the smell of fresh roses and Jammie Dodgers by her bed. Of course, what had wakened her in full was the sudden discovery that she _was_ in bed. Another unsettling discovery was that she was in the bed of a totally different house – if it even was a house. It certainly was not the Maitland residence from how old fashioned it looked to her. Jumping out of bed, she went to the nearest window and looked out of it. She could see nothing but trees – not enough to tell her where she was. Had she been kidnapped? She thought back on all that happened before she blacked out…

_There was a girl. Yeah. A little girl in the house on the stairs. Was she a friend of Angie's? She didn't look like she was. Oh, my stars! What happened after that? What happened __before__ that? That's right! Odd fellow in the monk suit – what was his name? The Doctor? That's not a name. Unless it's a cover-up. Some kind of codename for some type of human trafficking. That's it! That's why he kidnapped me and brought me here – wherever "here" is!_

The door to her bedroom suddenly creaked open and Clara's body grew tense. Her suspicions over her current surroundings had gotten the best of her, believing she had been held captive in a workhouse and the person in charge – possibly a big, hairy bald man in a sweatshirt – had come to collect her. Fortunately, it wasn't who Clara expected; in fact, it was the total opposite. An elderly woman walked in and smiled upon seeing Clara out of bed.

"Oh! You're awake." The woman said, and Clara quickly discovered her to be American by her accent. "The Doctor figured you'd be up and around by now. That's why he left all this out for you." She gestured to the Jammie Dodgers and the roses, which were also accompanied by a glass of water.

Clara eyed the old woman suspiciously. "The Doctor? You mean the funny man in the monk costume?"

The old woman was baffled from Clara's description. "Well, I don't know about any 'monk costume,' but he'd always been known from his weird choice of clothes from the years I've known him."

Clara nodded. That much made sense to her. "So…_he's_ the one who brought me here?" She saw the old woman nod. "And where _is_ here?"

"Storybrooke, Maine."

Clara stood flabbergasted from the woman's clarifying response. "I'm in America! How…How did I end up in America?"

"The Doctor brought you here. Saved your life from the story I heard from Emma."

"Who's Emma?"

The old woman saw how increasingly confused Clara had become. "Maybe it'd be best for you to lie back down, just until…"

"Actually, I think I'd like to step out for a while."

Clara then bolted for the door, which the old woman had left open upon entering. She rushed down a hallway and came across a staircase, which she promptly went down. She found herself in what appeared to a lobby that reminded her very much of one out of an old-fashioned hotel. She saw the exit in front of her and went out the door. Once outside, she saw from the sign hanging above the entrance that the place she escaped from was called "Granny's Bed and Breakfast." From reasonable deduction, she figured the old woman was "Granny" and the small, cottage-like dwelling was her "bed and breakfast" hotel.

She felt somewhat ashamed of herself for leaving such a humble place in a thoughtless way. It was nothing like she imagined it to be when she awakened in one of the rooms, and Granny was a very courteous woman to her. But she could not get past the fact of being brought there – brought to America – without her consent. For that purpose, she needed to find this "Doctor" character and get to the bottom of things. She continued on her path away from Granny's and searched for a large blue box, which was her only clue to finding the man.


	55. Chapter Fifty-Four

**Chapter Fifty-Four: Doctor What?**

**Storybrooke – 1983**

"Vincent Van Gogh. Can anyone tell me what they already know about him?"

John Smith stood before his sixth grade class, which consisted of children who could not have looked any more bored. Those were the perks to teaching history to preteen kids. John felt a bit discouraged that no one bothered to answer his question as he stood in front of the class near a poster of Vincent Van Gogh taped to the blackboard. He wondered how Mary Margaret Blanchard's class had been going across the hall; unlike his, hers encouraged the children to have fun and be creative.

"Come on. I know there are some of you who have heard about him from your parents, aunt, uncle, cousin, or a friend."

After a while, one girl raised her hand, which thrilled John.

"Yes! Paige!"

Paige put her hand down and said with a rather unsettled look, "Isn't he the guy who cut off his ear?"

The other students – mostly the other girls in the classroom – were just as disgusted. "Ewwwww!"

John chuckled over their reaction. "Yes, yes. Van Gogh _did_ suffer from many mental breakdowns that led to situations like the one Paige pointed out. But he was also a man of great brilliance who exceled in the fine arts like the ones we have hanging around the class." He indicated the various posters on the walls that featured the artwork of Vincent Van Gogh. The students gave half a glimpse at the posters – they still weren't impressed. "There were even stories of a doctor who once…"

Smith stopped in his lecture upon seeing Regina Mills enter his classroom. The bored students suddenly became interested in the arrival of the town's mayor. "Mr. Smith," she said as soon as she had his attention. "May I speak with you outside for a moment?"

"Oooooooooo!" Smith's students exclaimed, making Regina's request sound as if their teacher was in trouble. It was one thing for a student to be called to the principal's office; but when the teacher was called by the mayor, it might as well have been the same as far as the students were concerned.

"Alright, everyone. That's enough. While Mayor Mills and I talk, you all take out your books and read Chapter Eleven." His students moaned over his instruction but did as he said while he stepped out into the hall with Regina. "Is there something wrong, Madame Mayor? I-If the subject of Vincent Van Gogh is too much for students their age, then I can always…"

"I'm not here about your classroom management, Mr. Smith." Regina interrupted. "I want to know if you've had any…_feelings_…lately."

The address in her statement appeared awkward to Smith, who could not have been any more puzzled. "F-Feelings? Wh…What type of 'feelings' are you referring to, Madame Mayor? Feelings about me and…?"

"NO! Oh, god, no!" Regina reacted in revulsion, slightly offending Smith. "I mean _feelings_ about…you know…" There was no clear way for her to properly tell him what she meant without bringing back the memories of his life in the Enchanted Forest or his life as the Doctor.

Unfortunately, Smith just could not catch her drift. "I'm sorry, Madame Mayor. I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about."

Regina sighed, albeit more in relief than aggravation. "I suppose you don't…and that's…_good_. But if you happen to come across a man in a brown trench coat any time soon, turn away from him _immediately_. Is that understood?" Smith nodded, even though he still had not a clue what she was talking about. The whole conversation felt incredibly cumbersome to him. "You enjoy the rest of your day, Mr. Smith. I'll see you soon."

"Certainly, Madame Mayor."

He watched her head to Mary Margaret's class just as the recess bell had rung, allowing students in all classes – his included – to leave for the next hour. Mayor Mills' visit to the school was most baffling to Smith, yet he did not bother to question it for the sake of his job and his life in Storybrooke. _Anyone who would dare to cross that woman would be out of their mind_, he thought.

* * *

Despite her encounter with the man who claimed to be "The Doctor" earlier that morning, things had been looking up for Regina in this new life of hers in this new town called Storybrooke. To celebrate her victory over the residents there – none of whom were aware of their previous lives, she ordered some apple pancakes from Granny's. Before digging into her breakfast, she received a visit from someone who made her morning even more pleasurable.

"Good morning, Mayor."

She turned to see Graham – formerly known as the "Huntsman," her personal slave, in the Enchanted Forest but now the sheriff of Storybrooke and her secret lover. "That uniform suits you nicely, Sheriff," she said in a very sultry tone. "So…well-fitted."

"Want me to come over later?" Graham's inquiry sounded more like a request, one that Regina was happy to oblige until…

"Hey." The voice of a young child who spoke directly behind her made her turn away from Graham and look to a boy who she had never seen before. "You like apple pancakes, too?"

"Who are you?" Regina questioned to the boy.

"Ah, apple pancakes! I could go for some of those myself!"

Another voice – this one sounding more familiar to Regina – spoke from the direction that Graham stood in. The sheriff stood aside to reveal the supposed Doctor who Regina met earlier, waltzing up to the counter with Rose and taking a seat right next to the mayor, eyeing her pancakes.

"You again." Regina said in a snide tone. This "Doctor" character was clearly the killjoy of her otherwise pleasant morning. "Don't tell me this is _your_ child?" She gestured to the little boy.

"No, he's mine." Kurt Flynn stepped in beside his son. "And you'll have to excuse him. His manners are a little rough around the edges."

"That sounds like someone I know." Rose uttered while glancing at the Doctor.

"Oi! I'm polite when I want to be." The Doctor remarked.

Kurt stuck his hand out to Regina, who shook it with a baffled and troubled look upon her face. "I'm Kurt Flynn. We're, uh, lookin' to rent a hotel room for the night."

"Why would you need a hotel room?" Regina asked.

"That's a peculiar question for a mayor to ask." The Doctor said, garnering Regina's attention again. "Certainly the mayor of her own town would expect visitors to have _someplace_ to sleep."

Regina clearly was not pleased with his condescending attitude, which reminded her of the _other_ Doctor she knew (the "real" one in her eyes). "We don't get too many visitors here, _Doctor_." She addressed him as "Doctor" mockingly; she still was not certain if this man claimed to be who he was, and every moment he was around her was a headache – a literal one in Regina's case.

"Well, you have a good few here today." The Doctor remarked. "Rose and I are looking for a hotel room, too."

Regina became even more perturbed upon hearing the Doctor's admittance to staying in Storybrooke. Immediately, she turned to Graham and said, "We need to have a talk." She then got up from the counter and went to the back of the diner for a private conversation.

While she was away, Kurt and Owen sat down at the counter, across from the Doctor and Rose. "Well, she seems very friendly," Kurt told them.

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that," said the Doctor, who slid Regina's plate of apple pancakes to himself and began eating them, much to the surprise and amusement of Rose.


	56. Chapter Fifty-Five

**Chapter Fifty-Five: Into the Unknown**

**Storybrooke – Present Day**

Clara started to wish she had stayed back at Granny's as she wandered through the woods for what felt like hours. She had no idea where she was going and figured taking a shortcut through the forest was a bright idea. Unfortunately, she found out the hard way that it wasn't. Now she was lost in a seemingly endless forest, hoping to find a town or some form of civilization on her way to finding the Doctor. She even settled on finding that blue box of his – the one she recalled seeing before blacking out and finding herself there in Maine.

"Are you lost?"

Clara nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the sudden voice speak out from behind her. She turned immediately to see a thirty-something man with short-cropped hair and a receding hairline.

"I…I didn't mean to scare you. I was just on a hike, and I saw you out here all alone. Are you okay?"

"Not really, actually." Clara answered.

His ears perked from her accent. "You're English?" He chuckled amusingly. "Y-You're not from around here, are you?"

Clara shook her head. "No. I was sort of brought here against my will. Do you live here, Mister…?"

"Mendell. Greg Mendell. And, uh, no, not from here myself. I was in an accident on my way through and spent some time recuperating in the local hospital."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. But, uh, I figured that I would spend a while longer here in this little town. It…intrigues me."

Clara nodded understandingly. "Well, I'm hoping that I can leave here as soon as I find the man who brought me here. Weird bloke. Goes by the name of 'Doctor.'"

Greg looked surprised upon hearing the name. "You…You know…the Doctor?"

Noting his surprise, Clara looked at him awkwardly and said, "Yeah. Showed up at my home dressed like a monk. I pass out for reasons unknown, and I find myself across the pond here in America. Why? Do _you_ know him?"

Before Greg could have answered, the two of them heard movement near them. Turning in the direction of the noises, they saw a young boy appear from out of the trees and accidentally bump into Greg, knocking himself to the ground. "Whoa! Hey, kid, you alright?" The boy, out of breath from running and his hair drenched with sweat, nodded as he was helped back up. "What're you doing out here all by yourself?"

"You're not lost, too, are you?" Clara questioned to him.

The boy glanced back and forth between the two of them as he explained himself: "Boy scouts. Trying to get a merit badge." Greg and Clara swapped suspecting glimpses on his answer, which was obviously a fib. "W-What're you two doing here?"

"We're hiking." Greg fibbed back, which seemed like a fair thing for him to do in Clara's eyes. He then indicated his phone and added, "And taking pictures of Maine's scene of beauty."

The boy must have suspected Greg's fib just like they did with his, because he pointed to a faraway direction and said, "Hiking trail's that way."

Greg nodded. "O.K. Thanks." He walked over to where the boy dropped his backpack and picked it up. As he had done so, Clara noticed that Greg had taken a photo of the tag on the boy's pack before returning it to him. "'Henry,' is it? Well, good luck with your merit badge." Greg then walked away, nodding for Clara to follow him as he moved away from Henry.

While their backs were facing Henry, Clara whispered to Greg, "You got his home phone number from his pack, right?"

"Oh, yeah." Greg confirmed.

"Good." After a few more steps, Clara finally turned around to see Henry running madly in the opposite direction. "You call his mother. I'm gonna see what he's _really_ up to."

"Good idea." Greg acknowledged and watched her leave while dialing in the phone number that he had gotten off Henry's backpack.

* * *

It was certainly a much easier task pursuing a young boy through the forest than wandering endlessly looking for a man who might as well not have existed to Clara. Keeping a distance from the boy known as Henry, Clara carefully followed him all the way to an ancient-looking well in the midst of a clearing. She hid behind a tree and watched him as he took off his backpack and reached inside. When his hands came back out, Clara was shocked to discover that Henry had pulled dynamite out from his pack. _Oh, God! What the hell is this boy thinking of doing?_ She dreaded what would come next as Henry began lighting a match to ignite the fuse on the dynamite with.

Clara instinctively stepped out from behind the tree to put a stop to whatever intentions Henry had. But she retreated back to her hiding spot just as she heard a woman's voice call out to the boy…

"Henry!" Clara saw a dark-haired woman step into the clearing with her hands up. The woman appeared terrified and concerned; for that reason, Clara had to believe she was Henry's mother. "Henry, what are you doing?"

Henry picked up the dynamite, showing it to her. "I'm getting rid of magic! It's ruining everything! And you can't stop me!" He placed the dynamite back down to the edge of the well and started lighting matches again.

"All that's going to do is get you killed," his mother warned.

_Listen to her, kid. The woman's speaking sense_, Clara thought, even though she had no idea what was happening with this boy or what kind of "magic" he was referring to.

"You only say that because you _need_ magic, so you can cast that curse on me."

At that point, Clara wanted to step out from behind the tree again and interfere – talk to Henry herself and ask him what this "curse" was all about. She knew a troubled child when she saw one, and she figured this talk of magic and curses was a cry for help. She especially wanted to interfere when she saw Henry finally manage to get a match lit and prepare to ignite the fuse with it. However, both the fuse and the dynamite suddenly vanished in a puff of purple smoke, leaving Henry with nothing to ignite.

"Whoa." Clara whispered over the sudden supernatural display. It turned out that all this talk of magic was _real_, and it was Henry's mother that had performed the feat she had just witnessed. She thanked her stars for keeping herself behind the tree, because there was certainly some unearthly force at work.

With the dynamite gone, Henry's mother moved in much closer to him. "I can't lose you, Henry. You mean too much to me."

"Then _don't_ cast the curse. Don't kill Mary Margaret."

"Henry, she has to pay."

"The curse…it won't make me love you for real. It'll be fake."

"It'll be _something_. I know it's hard for you to understand right now, but you'll see. We can be happy. We can have _everything_."

"Not like this." Henry backed away from her, seeming to be terrified of her.

_Is this woman __really__ his mother? Why would he be so terrified of her?_

"Hey, Regina! Get away from my son!"

New players entered the act in the form of a young blonde who looked to be close to Clara's age and two men. It was the blonde who made the demand and hearing how _she_ was Henry's mother made this situation even more complicated for Clara to figure out. It was all happening like a soap opera to her.

"He's not yours! He's mine!" Regina exclaimed while reaching into her pocket and retrieving a small, rolled-up paper. "And after I cast this, you're _never_ going to see him again!"

"That's _not_ gonna happen!" One of the two men accompanying the blonde boldly declared.

"If you're gonna kill Mary Margaret, you'll have to go through us." The blonde cautioned Regina, who did not seem all too fazed by the threat.

"O.K." She then – to Clara's immediate shock – conjured a fireball right from her hand, ready to hurl it at the blonde and her companions, one of whom stepped in with a handgun aimed directly at Regina's head.

Had it not been for Henry stepping in between the adults, the scene would have certainly turned very ugly. "Stop this!"

"Henry, get out of the way!"

"Not until someone helps me destroy magic!"

"I'm afraid that's impossible, Henry."

Clara jumped. The speaker was not any of the people she had been watching from behind the tree; it was someone who had been watching them from behind _her_. Their attention went to Clara's direction, and she suddenly found herself to be discovered, all because of the person who spoke out behind her. Turning around, she saw that it was _him_ – the man who went only by "Doctor." He smiled at Clara, who wanted to punch him in the face – not for revealing her to the violent group of people near them, but for bringing her there in the first place.

"Doc!" Emma cried with happiness. "Thank God you're here!"

The Doctor stepped past Clara and addressed the group calmly. "Henry's right. Magic _is_ the problem. It's turned a good woman into something none of us could imagine she would ever become. And it's made another woman desperate to regain her son's love by foolishly settling for a poor substitute." He eyed Regina in particular on that last statement. "Regina, I understand what you've lost. I've lost, too. But you cannot _force_ Henry to love you and kill Mary Margaret all at once. If you truly love Henry, then show him the person he _wants_ to love."

Regina listened closely to the Doctor's words. She knew exactly what needed to be done to do what he suggested. Retrieving the small, rolled-up paper from her pocket, she held it over the fireball that continued to spark from her other hand. After much hesitation, she dropped the paper – the spell that she intended to use on Henry – into the fireball, letting it become nothing but ash. She extinguished the fireball from her hand by closing her palm, bringing a sigh of relief over everyone, Henry included.

"Thank you," he gratefully told her before returning to Emma and leaving with her, Neal, and David.

Regina, alone again, tearfully watched Henry leave with his family and then began to depart herself. With Regina gone, the Doctor was left only with Clara, whose mystified face showed how overwhelmed she was from all that had transpired there. Smiling at her, the Doctor could only (timidly) say, "Welcome to Storybrooke."


	57. Chapter Fifty-Six

**Chapter Fifty-Six: The Doctor and John Smith**

**Storybrooke – 1983**

Fish fingers and custard were all John ever ordered at Granny's, whether it was for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. He could not figure out why he loved the dish so much to eat it every single day and not get sick of it. But it made him feel happy while eating them – the happiest he could remember being, if he could remember that far back. It was fish fingers and custard that he had for the dinner after a bizarre day at the school – he still could not figure out what Mayor Mills wanted to talk to him about. He wanted to put the whole experience behind him with eating his favorite meal and reading "A Journal of Impossible Things" by Verity Newman at Granny's Diner.

"Now there's an interesting meal."

Just as John began reading Chapter Eight, he was interrupted by a man in a blue pinstripe suit and tie standing beside his booth and eyeing his dinner. He was definitely someone John had never seen or met before in town, which helped him to deduce that this is the same man Regina had warned him about. He could not understand why Regina wanted him to avoid the stranger; as far as he could tell, the guy was harmless.

"Um, y-yes…it is." John remarked to his conversation starter. "Have you tried fish fingers and custard before?"

The man shook his head, still eyeing John's dinner. "Nah. I'm a bit partial to bananas and tea, but I wouldn't have them together at the same time. Or maybe I should. Worth trying out one day, I suppose. Mind if I sit for a while? Waiting for a friend." He did so before John could even have a chance to permit him to. This man spoke rather fast – the fastest John ever heard a person speak. "What do they taste like?"

John chuckled, finding it to be a joy that someone had taken interest in his unique meal. "Like magic. Try one."

The man was hesitant at first, but he eventually brought himself to grab one of the fish fingers off John's plate and dab it into the bowl of custard it came with. He took one bite and gave a pleasant nod. "It's quite good. You eat this often?"

"More often than I care to admit." John bashfully said.

"Verity Newman, eh?" The man was also quick to change the subject, moving from fish fingers and custard to "A Journal of Impossible Things." "Never heard of her. What's it about?"

"Oh, just a story about a stranger from another world who only goes by the name 'Doctor.'"

John did not see it when it happened, due to looking at the book in his hands as he introduced it to his new "friend," but the man's face dropped at the moment he heard "Doctor."

"I'm on the eighth chapter, but it all sounds purely fictional to me, even though Verity _claims_ that it all actually happened to her great grandmother."

"Who's her great grandmother?"

"Joan Redfern." The name made the man grow even more curious. John finally caught sight of how unnerved the man appeared to be and got concerned. "Are you alright? You seem a little…disturbed."

"It's…nothing."

"You know, I don't believe I've gotten your name."

The man again seemed hesitant. "John Smith."

John slightly chuckled. "You're joking, right? That's _my_ name."

The man's face dropped even more.

"Who are you _really_?" John's question sounded more demanding than he wanted it to be, but he had become heavily suspicious of the stranger. He started to see why Regina was so wary of him.

"Doctor?" A young blonde suddenly approached their booth as their conversation became tense, addressing the man by the same name from the book that they discussed just a while ago. At least, from the way that the blonde addressed the man, it sounded like his name and not just his title. "Are we gonna eat or not?"

The moment that the blonde showed up, the man known as "Doctor" immediately got up from the booth and joined his companion's side. "Right. Yes. We'll have to take our order to go." He was talking really fast again, which clued John in on his attitude – this man was indeed disturbed over something. He gave Smith a quick glance and hurriedly said, "Pleasure meeting you." And with that, he rushed over to the counter with his friend, ordered their meals, and was out the door in a matter of minutes.

As they walked out, John noticed how they had almost bumped into Regina without even taking as much as a glimpse of her during their departure. Regina, on the other hand, watched them leave with just as much suspicion as John had. From the troubled look on the Storybrooke mayor's face, John could tell something was not right with this visitor of theirs.


	58. Chapter Fifty-Seven

**Chapter Fifty-Seven: One Impossible Situation**

**Storybrooke – Present Day**

"She seems really nice."

"_Seems_? Isn't this the same girl you and Mary Margaret met while you were with the Doctor?"

David and Emma had their discussion of Clara in the kitchen with David at the window, seeing Clara herself sitting with the Doctor outside across from Mary Margaret's apartment in front of the TARDIS. Emma stood nearby making some tea for herself, her father, and their two friends outside. Neal was also there, having spent most of his time upstairs with Henry until he fell asleep. After nearly blowing up the well and confronting Regina, she was not too surprised to see how early Henry went to bed. It was an exhausting day, not just for poor Henry but for everyone else; so the tea was desperately needed.

Mary Margaret continued lying in bed, pretending to be asleep even though everyone already caught on. To Emma, she seemed more "catatonic" than before, which had begun to get on her nerves. It was certainly something she planned on addressing David about but decided to do it in the morning. With everything they had been through that day, she needed a break from all the drama.

"It's complicated," she told David on the subject of Clara. "We met this woman in Victorian London who _looked_ like Clara, only she was…Victorian."

"And what about _this_ Clara?" David questioned. "Is she the same woman or someone else completely?"

Emma shrugged. "I don't know. I don't even think the Doc knows. He's been obsessed like hell with finding out." As soon as the tea was ready, Emma poured some into four cups, handing one over to David.

As he took his cup of tea, David looked to Emma in concern. "Do you think it was a good idea for him to bring her here to Storybrooke?"

"Personally…no." Emma honestly answered. "But I trust the Doc enough to know whatever he thinks is best can only be the right idea." David gave an understanding nod to this. "I'll be right back." She left David's side and headed out of the apartment with a tray of cups filled with tea for her, Clara, and the Doctor.

Once outside, Emma crossed an empty street to reach the corner where the TARDIS was parked with Clara and the Doctor conversing in front of it, sitting down upon a couple of chairs that David courteously brought out for them with one extra for Emma. The two had been sitting there and talking for hours. At first, Clara was hostile towards the Doctor for bringing her to an American town filled with storybook characters living everyday lives; but, once he showed her the Spoonhead robot that tried to "upload" her, she began to accept her presence in Storybrooke.

When Emma showed up with their tea, Clara's conversation with the Doctor had reached to the events of that day. "So…the little boy with the dynamite…the one who wanted to destroy magic…his mother is the mayor?"

"Actually, _I'm_ his mother." Emma clarified. "Regina's just his stepmother – the woman who took him up for adoption after I gave him up."

Clara nodded. "I see. And _your_ mother is Snow White."

"Yep." Emma confirmed while lounging backwards in her chair. "And Prince Charming's my dad."

Clara smiled. "That is…incredible! _This_ is all incredible! Aliens, robots, magical creatures…is there anything else I should know about?"

"Only that you'll be safe here." The Doctor assured.

"Safe from what?" Clara queried. "You still haven't explained what happened to me – why I can't remember anything before I blacked out."

Emma frowned at the Doctor. "You still haven't told her about the Wi-Fi?"

Clara eyed her in confusion. "The Wi-Fi? What about the Wi-Fi?"

The Doctor took a large gulp of his tea before breaking into explanation. "There's something in the Wi-Fi. This world is _swimming_ in Wi-Fi. We're living in a Wi-Fi soup. Suppose something got inside it. Suppose there is something living in the Wi-Fi, harvesting human minds…_extracting_ them. Imagine that – human souls trapped like flies in the World Wide Web…stuck forever…crying out for help."

"Isn't that basically Twitter?" Clara joked.

Her joke seemed to have brought about a suspicious look from the Doctor – one that Emma took notice of immediately. "Uh-oh. I know that face. It means you've just realized something, haven't you?"

"A computer that can hack another computer – a living, _sentient_ computer. Maybe that can hack into people – edit them, rewrite them!"

"What brought you to _that_ conclusion?" Emma curiously asked.

"Because before Clara was uploaded to the Spoonhead, she knew _nothing_ about the Internet," the Doctor said, "and she just made a joke about Twitter."

"Oh." Clara casually uttered, until the "phenomenon" finally sunk in. "Oh! Oh, that's weird. I know about computers now in my head. Where did all _that_ come from?"

"You were uploaded for a very long time. Wherever you were, you brought something extra back." The Doctor deduced as he began to eye the street corner suspiciously. "Which I very much doubt you'll be allowed to…keep." He finally spotted something that made him jump up from his chair immediately and look off in the distance.

Seeing how jumpy he was and feeling worried, Emma got up from her chair. "Doc? Everything okay?"

Clara remained seated, clearly puzzled. "Is he always like this?"

"Only when there's something really bad." Emma answered.

"The three of us…inside that box…right now!" The Doctor suddenly exclaimed.

His sudden, hasty instruction brought out an amusing sense of surprise in Clara. "_I'm sorry_?"

The Doctor rushed to the doors of the TARDIS, making Emma and Clara even more perplexed. "Just get inside!"

"All three of us?" Clara questioned.

"Just trust him." Emma told Clara. "Whatever's going down, it'll make more sense once we're inside that box."

"I bet it will." Clara distrustfully remarked. "What is that box anyway? Why has he got a box?"

"Clara!" The Doctor urgently exclaimed.

"Is it like a snogging booth?"

Her question brought out baffling looks from Emma and the Doctor.

"What the hell is a 'snogging booth'?" Emma asked.

"You know…snogging." Clara replied with a wink.

The wink gave Emma an idea of the meaning behind the British term. "Oh." But once she realized what it meant in reference to the TARDIS, she became repulsed. "Oh, God! No!"

Clara grinned and giggled at her. "It _is_, isn't it? He brings the booth, and you two go snogging the night away, eh?"

"NO!" Emma and the Doctor defensively shouted.

"There is such a thing as too keen."

Emma turned away from Clara and groaned in disgust. As she looked elsewhere, she soon discovered how all of the lights in the neighborhood block had switched on one-by-one questionably. "Uh, Doc? There's no way the Wi-Fi can reach Storybrooke, is there? I mean…this place isn't exactly on the map."

The Doctor and Clara both took notice in the mysterious occurrence as well. "The Wi-Fi can reach anywhere there's technology, Emma." The Doctor contradicted. "_Including_ Storybrooke."

Emma felt a shiver down her spine. "Then…this is the Wi-Fi controlling all the lights?"

"No…it's the Wi-Fi controlling all the people," he elucidated.

Emma looked to him and saw how he stared in the same spot as earlier – the spot where the thing that brought about his anxiety was located. There, directly across the street, stood a familiar resident of Storybrooke. "Archie?" Emma said his name aloud in alarm and bewilderment. "What's he doing out this late? And without Pongo?"

She attempted to cross the street, but the Doctor swiftly stopped her. "Emma…it's _not_ Archie."

At first, his claim sounded ridiculous to Emma; but she was reminded of the mechanical creature they encountered back in London, especially once the man standing across the street that was supposedly Archie Hopper had turned his head in a complete 180 degree and revealed the spoon-like back of its head. "Oh, my god," Emma whispered in shock. "It's one of those things. They're here…in Storybrooke!"

Clara's eyes widened in alarm. "What _is_ that thing?"

"A walking base station. You saw one back in London." The Doctor told her.

"I saw a little girl then." Clara recalled.

"It must've taken an image from the subconscious, throwing it back at you." The Doctor inferred and then smacked his head in punishment of his own blind stupidity. "Active camouflage!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't move past the fact that these _things_ are in Storybrooke right now!" Emma exclaimed in panic. "They could be everywhere!"

Clara looked in the direction opposite of where the three of them had faced, noting something in the sky that looked to be heading towards the town. "Look!" She got Emma and the Doctor to see what she saw.

"Is that…a plane?" Emma asked, hoping for the Doctor or Clara to tell her otherwise – they unfortunately didn't.

It also did not help much for her nerves to hear the Doctor say, "Some planes have Wi-Fi."

"Then we've got to be one helluva target right now." Emma observed.

"All of us…box…NOW!" The Doctor yelled.

* * *

From the kitchen window of Mary Margaret's apartment, David had been watching the Doctor, Clara, and Emma converse beside the TARDIS until the moment all three of them rushed into it. Seeing this made David bolt out of the apartment complex himself; unfortunately, just as he reached the TARDIS, the large blue box had vanished from its spot, leaving behind the set of chairs and two cups of tea on the ground. David wondered what was so urgent that the Doctor, Clara, and Emma had to leave in the TARDIS – and, to a greater extent, _where_ did they go in the TARDIS.

He seemed to have gotten the reason for their departure upon the discovery of a commercial plane that appeared to be nose-diving directly for the very section of town he was standing in. There was not enough time to warn everyone on the block about the impending crash and evacuate them in time. All he could do was crouch down, cover his head, and wait for the painful impact. He heard the fierce engines of the plane coming deathly close, yet they passed right over the town. David looked up and realized that the plane pulled up just in time to avoid crashing into him and everything else on that block.

David soon came upon the recognition that the miracle happened because of the collective efforts of the Doctor, Emma, and Clara. They saved Storybrooke from the worst catastrophe ever. "Son of a bitch!" He happily exclaimed while watching the plane soar up to the skies again. It was so close to the town that David could briefly see the name of the airline that owned it – Ajira Airways – printed on the side.

"What the hell was that?" David heard Neal run out of the apartment, rushing up to David in distress. "Was that a plane?"

"Yeah," David confirmed. "It was."

"Was flying pretty damn close!" Neal then discovered the absence of the TARDIS, as well as Emma and the Doctor. "Where did everybody go?"


End file.
